Camp SOS
by BeMerryEatCake
Summary: Eight particular teens, one camp, forty days. "So…what are you in here for?"..."You really want to know?" On hiatus.
1. So it begins

**I know it's a bit boring and slow in the beginning, but bear with me! If you read it to the end without falling asleep tell me what you think! :)**

* * *

It was strange.

That's what they thought, all those girls. Her friends. She supposed they didn't consider her as a one, but she thought it all the same. Sometimes they would hang out, talk for awhile, meaningless girl chatter in between classes or lunch. It was all so simply inserted into her life.

One night it went a bit far.

One night she said too much.

One night everything changed.

For the worst, it changed.

* * *

He was the only one. Kukai Souma, captain of the high school soccer team. The only one that didn't say a thing about her interests. Utau's sunglasses slid down the bridge of her nose, her light mauve eyes showing just atop the shiny black frames. Her lips pursed ever so slightly as she watched him twist expertly out of another players block and score a goal for his team. The cheers were deafening and annoyingly loud to her ears as her nose wrinkled distastefully at the sounds.

A crowd of nearby girls stood off to the sidelines, giggling a bit too loudly and hopping about with their pony-tailed heads flipping widely, making knowing glances in the tan boy's direction. Of course, she knew he was popular. Every soul at Seiyo high knew who he was. Utau's gaze flickered to the watch loosely attached to her thin wrist. It's blinking screen read the same numbers over an over, another thing that was bashing against her patience. Not to mention the hot sun beating down her neck and making her sweat her own weight.

_**3:35 **_Blink. Blink. Blink. And it goes and goes to mock her. She sighed, flicking stray blond wisps of her hair with the back of her palm.

That stupid old woman had said till the end of the year…and here she was.

Her butt was firmly planted against the very warm and uncomfortable metal bleachers of the soccer field, a large tote bag sitting idly by her side. She was wearing a soft white cotton long sleeve shirt with the fabric rolled up to her elbows, the black and blue striped skirt scratching against her thighs. It was normal summer uniform attire at her school. The black and actually stylish dark black dress was only for partial spring and mostly later fall through early winter. She preferred it.

_Dammit Ikuto, your late. _She thought with growing aggravation.

"All alone, huh?"

Utau jerked so violently she almost toppled off the bench, her hair flying every which way as she tried to regain her footing. Her sunglasses had flown clean off her sweaty face, clinking against the bleachers with a resounding plinking and falling against the pebbly ground right beneath her seating spot. She whipped her head around angrily, vile words at the surface of her tongue ready to be spoken. Her heart lurched up into her throat as she was greeted by a set of neon green eyes.

The surprised and wide honest face of Kukai Souma stared right back into hers. He was ruffling his large numbered jersey in and out to cool himself off with the air, but his fingers stopped the act immediately as his gaze trailed underneath the five or so empty bleacher rows she was sitting above. "Oops…" He murmured.

"Sorry, I scared ya there!" He grinned sheepishly looking back up at her briefly, his steps crunching loudly as he started walking around towards the open ended part of the large bleachers. Utau watched in growing surprise as he grunted with the effort of winding himself inside the tangled mess of rusty and hot bars. A loud snap of a twig ricocheted into her ears and a quiet and hissed curse ensued seconds after.

She about smiled at his choice of vocabulary and frustration, but instead took to forcing her lips to remain in a nonchalant thin line and craning her neck to look at the weird boy. A mild and almost inaudible squeak sounded from her lips as a dust ridden pair of glasses shoved right into her face. Blinding white teeth peeked from under the metal siding and she knew he had heard it.

Utau took them hesitantly, placing them in her lap with uncertainty of how to respond. She looked up again as the gravelly sound of shoes batted against her eardrums, signaling he had come out from under the bleachers yet again. Kukai's smiling face greeted her as she looked at the spot he had previously occupied.

He brought up an arm and rubbed at the side of his face, the dirt there smudging further across his cheek.

"You know-" The grin seemed sort of small on his face now, as if he were unsure of how she would react to the next statement. "You look sorta pissed…" His eyebrows shot up as her face grew stiffer at his comment.

"Not that it's a bad thing, I mean, everyone's entitled to being PO-ed at the world now and then-"

Utau purposely crossed her arms at this, although she was secretly amused at his nervous exterior that didn't show often when she ever saw him talking to his friends and teammates. Though, there was really no need for him to stick around and talk to explain himself…

His fingers hooked around at the back of his head as he regained his confidence. "Don't worry, they aren't screwed up, I checked." The easy going grin had swept onto his lips again as he gestured to the sunglasses set in her lap. She looked at he dirt ridden frames as a reply, quickly assessing for any annoying indents or damage that might have occurred. Her purple eyes came up to greet his again and he seemed to take her silence as approval. He leaned against the bars jutting out as decorative railing with his arms dangling half-way over, flaky crisps of blue paint peeling off at the sudden touch.

She followed the billowing specks caught in the sudden small gust of wind with her eyes, shifting uncomfortably as she felt Kukai's attention still on her. She turned back towards the boy, unsurprised as she caught him looking at her strangely.

Kukai stared at her in silence for a moment, contemplating. "You seem bored."

_I am_. She thought in utter flaring annoyance.

Her eyes strayed towards the nearby school parking lot, which was riddled with cars of students and faculty alike. But she was looking for a particular one in a certain ugly shade. Utau turned her head back once again, but took to standing to the surprise of the soccer player a mere ten feet from her. She hoisted the tote bag in the crook of her arm and planted the black shades on top of her head swiftly and without falter.

Kukai watched with raised brows as she made her way down the many steps connecting to the bleachers.

She hadn't said a single word. The entire time with one of the most talkative people, not a single thing came from her mouth, which was breaking one of the rules. If she was addressed, she had to answer and try to make the conversation last more than a minute. Utau fumbled around for her phone, pushing aside random items and such in her purse, and gritting her teeth at the awkward position her neck was in. It was starting make an irritating pain.

She finally managed to locate the dark lilac cell, her fingers pounding across the tiny buttons in quick and familiar movement barely a second after she had taken it from her bag.

"You know, that's a sign." Utau forced herself not to jump out of her skin this time as she heard the voice as familiar as the heat itching across her back. She looked at him, her mouth set grimly into a frown. He wasn't smiling, but there was no emotion of anger or dislike of her ignoring behavior towards him. His sweaty tanned face was thoughtful almost, in a way. He was half-sitting against the railing now, his unruly auburn head propped onto the higher bar, while his green gaze was looking straight up at the sky. She waited for more speech to come but he didn't speak. Kukai continued to stare at the blinding cloudless sky as if he had never spoken at all.

Utau threw up her nose into the air as if the thought hadn't bugged her. She continued to text Ikuto with growing threats and impatient and annoying messages, just to make him bugged enough that he could force his lazy self to drive to the school and pick her up.

A few moments later Utau sighed to herself and chucked the phone inside her bag at seeing no return messages. She crossed her arms stubbornly and tightly against her chest, leaning lightly against the bars and tempted to ask the boy beside her a question.

Most particularly about his previous statement. _That's a sign. That's a sign. That's a sign. _Her foot tapped on each repeated sentence, the words flashing in her head and plucking the thin walls of her patience. Utau looked to him, her mouth pursing to the side as she fought with her sense and curiosity.

"W-" She barely uttered before a loud and blaring horn sliced into the air. She whirled, as did the boy beside her towards the noise. Utau held back a curse for her bother's not so bashful entrance. He was leaning against the wheel, his eyes lazily looking at her with both azure brows slightly turned up.

"That your ride?" Kukai questioned.

Utau looked back a bit at him, her eyes taking in the large group of boys and teammates alike heading right towards them over his shoulder. She slid the sunglasses over her eyes, shutting off the bright light and creating a dark shaded film. All the happy and sweat soaked faces were clearly still in her line of sight though, she couldn't hide them all with a flimsy piece of plastic. The warning flashes in her head beamed bright into her mind, making a sharp sense of strange unease slip in her veins. Kukai's head turned as if he noticed her feelings, or rather saw where her attention was.

She took his distraction as a good escape, not saying a word, nor giving a wave in goodbye. Her steps were quick, a bit too quick to her liking of trying to gain no notice. But she could hear the words being exchanged with all the soccer players, a few of the girls standing on the sidelines joining in too. One voice was all to clear, one voice stood out to her like someone dragging their nails across a shiny new vehicle.

Utau felt the pricks of familiar pain stab at her back as her fingers curled around the peeling and rusty door handle of Ikuto's car.

"What were you talking to her for?"

Utau stiffened for a millisecond, freezing at the identical words that had haunted her for years.

"You know…I heard some things-" The speech cut off with the deafening bang of her car door, melting away and finishing vaguely in her mind as she knew what would come after them. Utau didn't bother to secure a seatbelt across her chest, resting her chin lightly into her palm and not even giving her brother a sideways glance.

"Bad day?" Ikuto asked quietly, the haziness of sleep crawling across his words.

"Like all the other times, it's nothing new." She snapped back, as if it were his fault. Ikuto didn't reply, he just turned the key and started the car away as if she hadn't said a word. Utau sank in her seat as immediate regret and guilt seeped into her chest, wringing her hands in the silence. She looked out the window, her vision blurring and stinging as oncoming tears burned in her eyes. She shut them tightly trying to wish them away and hoping Ikuto would keep quiet and not make her bawl in his lap.

It was easier to will them back than cry for a half-hour.

She sniffed, the sound unbearably loud in the car.

Utau shuddered as a sob waved over and into her lungs. Why today of all days did she have to have one of her breakdowns? Ikuto shifted slightly beside her, but for only a moment. Her ears perked at the sudden soft tones whisking past her ears. The radio hummed quietly with her silent tears, drawling with lyrics she knew by heart and a tune that had a soothing affect against her sad moods.

This time however she knew what it was for. He turned the notch up, which flooded every sound from outside and in. She thanked him wordlessly for the distraction and the blockade of her crying.

And her tears continued. This time she didn't care if they never stopped.

Just as long as the song kept playing…it would block out all the memories.

* * *

"But-"

"No buts, Utau, this is serious." Her mother's tone wasn't loud, nor demanding. Souko Hoshina wasn't the type to yell or seem intimidating to her children. Her eyes were filled to the brim with worry and she ran a hand through her hair in a gesture that had become common since the beginnings of Utau's high school life.

The fair haired girl's mouth had set in that familiar scowl, her arms stubbornly tightened across her still uniformed chest. The living room area had grown quiet after the spoken words that had ultimately seemed to end the argument. Utau's throat itched with that familiar sensation that led to tears as she tried to calm herself from saying something regrettable. Ikuto and her had just arrived only a few minutes earlier, her crying stopping mid-way through the ride home.

Her eyes weren't red-rimmed, thank god, but her mother could tell from her mood and actions of storming into the house what had happened. Or what was upsetting her. Which had ended up leading to the news that had made her even more to the brink of crying again. Normally, she wouldn't subject herself to such upsetting thoughts or to the action of embarrassment of being caught in the midst of bawling her eyes out.

But today wasn't normal.

"You have to understand, this will help," Souko placed a cool hand to her daughter's cheek, smiling softly to reassure the girl. "Some day you'll forget it, it will pass."

_No it won't. _She thought stubbornly, pulling away from her mother's touch and trying to ignore the slight quiver to her bottom lip. "You promised…" Utau grew frustrated at her childish words, heaving out her emotions with a heavy sigh into the conditioned air.

Souko let her own sigh slip. "Utau I didn't-"

Utau whirled, letting her arms loose with her anger. "Yes you did! That idiotic woman, you, all those people-" Her purple orbs hardened as she remembered it all. "-I put up with all the counseling, I did everything that was asked of me!" The girl stopped, looking towards the wall and trying to force the angry tears from her eyes away. "I guess that wasn't enough for you."

The woman put a hand to her face, closing her eyes for a moment. "Honey, it wasn't a punishment, it was never something like that."

"Then what _was _it?" Utau bit back harshly. "Are you saying that I was wasting my time, that everything was something to keep my mind off it all? What a great help that was."

She turned away sharply, ignoring the gentle hand on her shoulder and shrugging it off without a glance.

Their was no call from behind her, no threats to ground her, nothing that a normal parent would do. Utau gripped the nearby stair railing , pounding her feet like a brat and loathing it every second. She was such a child at the wrong moments, it only showed when she was in the worst of moods. She bit her lip as she passed her brother who was in his bedroom doorway.

His eyes watched her steadily and without a blink to them, both arms crossed over his chest lazily.

"You should apologize." Ikuto spoke after she had arrived at her own bedroom. Utau didn't turn, it would only show the stupid face she always made when she was going to cry again. A million words racked and flew into her mind as she tried to think of what to say instead of yelling like a spoiled child. The familiar quiet click sounded behind her as she didn't reply. Ikuto never bothered to wait on someone to talk back, when they were ready he was most likely going to be in the exact same place.

Utau closed her own door, leaning against the cool surface wood and sliding down to the floor to bury her face into her ugly pleated skirt. The paper was still tightly grasped in her left hand, crumpled and beyond recognition as a flyer. She sniffled in the calm quiet atmosphere, her ears perking at the barely audible creaks just below her bedroom. Her mother was most likely making something that she liked, just to cheer her up.

The thought washed over her like an icy wave of ocean water; a bad salty taste of guilt sticking to her tongue.

She brought up her head, the lack of cool air in the small space between her knees making her face grow hot. Utau unfurled the bright orange paper hesitantly, smoothing the corners and rubbing at the creases to make sense of the letters. Her purple gaze ran swiftly over the letters at a blinding speed, skipping randomly to certain points. Anger flared in her chest again and her hand smashed it to it's previous state yet again.

_I'm not going. _The girl thought with utter determination. She flung it against the wall in her frustration, unsatisfied when it missed the trash bin by her desk.

Utau frowned deeply at the orange beacon shining against her white carpeted floor.

"I'm not going." She grumbled towards the paper, glaring at it with all her hate.

**Camp S.O.S **

**Strength of Communication**

**You are the key, but we'll help find the lock**

**All summer with fun, group meetings, and finding the strength within!**

**Call us for details: 1800-456-1673 Camp Strength**

* * *

**Whoooo, that was definitely a different perspective than normal! I hope it wasn't suckish, I tried really hard on it. The story won't pick up with Utau again until I get all the other character's out first, which will take awhile considering that's going to about five chapters of filler. Hopefully it won't be too boring...see ya next time! Oh yeah, Utau's past won't be revealed for awhile either.**

**Any thoughts? Any mistakes? Let me know! REVIEWS ARE WELCOME! :)**


	2. Act Two: Lie ?

**I about died of shock this morning when I read the first reviewers reactions! (I was busy for a couple of days) XD I thought most people would be bored with the lack of dialogue, and you guys all liked it! But if there's anything that is off or confusing, just let me know. Thanks again for your positive feedback, you guys are awesome. **

* * *

It was a heated feeling, something quick and repetitive.

He couldn't control anger. It was an emotion that didn't grace his sense often, he wasn't immune to the stupid and useless thing. Should he refer to it as a thing? Maybe not, but he didn't really care at the moment.

Mainly because he had just ruined the life set up by his mother for him.

Nagihiko stared at the unconscious boy crumpled on the asphalt. His hand was still knotted tightly into a fist and he was now feeling the after-affects of punching someone straight in the face. His knuckles were throbbing with a stinging icy feeling, as if misplaced from his own hand. The crowd had grown quiet around both boys, no one moved as they all thought the same thing.

_What the hell had just happened?_

He had just knocked the living daylights out of someone, that's what.

The strangest thing was though...he couldn't remember why.

"Back up people, back up!" A distant yell sounded beyond his ears. Nagihiko continued to stare silently at the fire haired boy laying still against the ground, his eyes unblinking and blank. The image didn't disappear or crawl away as he wished it to. It never did. The blinding sun beat against his back as he squirmed underneath the heat. Two teachers were now surrounding the fallen student, tapping at his face lightly and trying to rouse him. He was moving. His eyes fluttering as if they would open any second.

And when they did, he knew what would happen.

Nagihiko stayed still as stone, waiting for another student to point at him and yell that he was the attacker, that he was the one to start it all. It always happened two different ways. Either one, it led to the same thing every time. Nagihiko led out an inaudible sigh to himself, reaching for his fallen book bag and curling his fingers tightly around the strap as he heard the sudden jerk of the student clambering up.

"Wha-" He started. His eyes swirling widely as he focused on all the people surrounding him. The student's eyes stopped abruptly as he caught the one person he could remember before being sucked into unconsciousness. Nagihiko stayed frozen even as he felt the hand at his shoulder and the wary gazes burning a hole into his back. "You-" The boy spat, his eyes blazing with rage.

That was definitely different.

"Son," A man spoke behind him. The hand at his shoulder tightening drastically. "We'll need you to come with us."

That wasn't.

Most of the crowd had gone when the teachers had broken it all up, which made it easier to cope with less stares focusing on mainly him. But he couldn't help but feel as if pent up loathing was focused his way. As if it weren't only the person he had just caused to curse and spit his name, but someone else. Someone he had no clue who they were. Nagihiko turned instinctively as they passed a small figure.

It was an instant. A bright flash of something bright and beautiful. Golden orbs meeting his with a quick acknowledgment. Her gaze was cold, face emotionless, body petite and feminine-like. Fair haired curled strands cascaded over her shoulders in a perfect array he wasn't sure if it was by accident or hours of work.

And she was looking at him.

Nagihiko was so speechless at the perfect doll-like girl he had to be shoved forward by the large man behind him to be kept moving. He stumbled idiotically of course, caught off guard. The strange girl almost seemed to smirk then, but her lips remained in a thin and straight line.

"Stupid."

It was a mutter, a quiet and almost inaudible word that anyone with an ounce of hearing would dismiss as unsaid. But he knew that even girls' with a pretty face could bite. Nagihiko couldn't even turn or reply to her statement for he was being quickly hurried along into the building that every student dreaded at one point in their lives. But his thoughts weren't on his mother now, not even when he knew the disappointment that would surface onto her face.

He could only see that small girl. That rude little girl.

Why hadn't he ever noticed her in the hallways? He was sure she must have some admirers trailing her around like a bunch of lost puppies. The thought made him annoyed. She looked like the type who put on an act, one that would fool anyone to get them to do something for her. Mostly of the male variety. She had almost succeeded in making him believe she was innocent and sweet just by her face. Nagihiko cringed to himself, feeling defeated that he had practically been captured by her ruse.

The man lightly directed him towards a familiar door, one that he had been graced to visit quite a few times in these past years. Nagihiko stepped into the glass walled room, noting the receptionist that had exempted a few tardy calls due to their good-natured conversations that had come up now and then when he was sent to the office. But he wasn't directed to her to receive the normal 'sit there and wait' before seeing the principle.

No, he was pointed towards a phone.

Nagihiko stared at it for a few seconds as the man held it out to him.

"Um, sir, I thought I was supposed to go in there…" His head tipped towards the door leading to the person that would ultimately lead to his punishment. Nagihiko gave a quick glance to the guy's nametag printed in fancy text on his blue uniform. Yuk Won.

Yuk Won.

Well, that doesn't sound right.

He was a janitor most likely, the uniform was a bold giveaway to his lower position on the faculty. And on his suit it had been washed and dried so many times the 'I' was missing to his first name. Normally, being the polite and well-mannered boy he is, Nagihiko would point this out. But he didn't, he only continued to nod off to the Janitor's insistent rambling about fighting on school grounds.

"-new policy, new rules, call parents yourself-"

"Wait, excuse me, but did you say by _myself_?"

The Middle-aged balding man nodded once, with a toothy grin. If Nagihiko didn't know any better he would say it was out of glee at the idea. But adults wouldn't do such a thing. Especially not the ones that made their sons dance till the age of eighteen and cross-dress. Okay, well, he had to admit he found the idea fun at age six-but no higher!

"Yes, weren't you listening boy? Do I have to tell you again?"

"NO-" Nagihiko threw out his arm on some weird reflex, already picturing the replay of boredom. The janitor gave him a strange look and Nagiheiko straightened. He cleared his throat and managed to grasp the phone without shaking from imagining his mother's expression, and many lectures to come. "I mean, no, that's all right." He smiled to reassure the man, wishing that he would leave already.

Mr. Yuki Won coughed in the uncomfortable silence that had befallen them both, rubbing at his balding spot in some habit he had probably tended to do during such occasions. "All righty then." He said, crossing his arms and leaning back of the balls of his feet as if waiting for Nagihiko to start the embarrassing talk with his mother right _there_.

"Let me guess, another policy?" He questioned half-heartily.

The man nodded happily to Nagihiko's assumption.

_You've got to be kidding_.

He sighed inaudibly, turning towards the wall as not to face his humiliator straight on. And he pressed the numbers they had been taught to memorize for emergencies as children, or rather tell an adult and have them dial the numbers. But he never saw himself in a million years to be calling his mother and telling her up-front what had happened. Yet, he was.

The familiar sudden click sounded and he took a deep breathe, his heart thudding against his chest with the fluttery feeling of strange nervousness.

"Yes? Fujisaki residence." His mother answered professionally.

Nagihiko gripped the phone tighter, his whitened knuckles contrasting vastly with the bright blue.

"This is your son…" He closed his eyes. "Something happened."

* * *

"All I can say is…" The woman sighed.

_I'm disappointed in you. _He thought.

"I'm disappointed in you."

_Bingo. _Not that he felt completely devoid of any emotion to care, he felt horrible actually. His mother straightened his back softly with the tips of her fingers as he faltered in his dance step. Nagihiko cursed silently, knowing it was a stupid amateur mistake. But what could he do? Sweat pooled against his brow as he moved in the graceful and difficult motions. In his haste his ankle twisted a bit too far, and he lost his footing and tripped on the slippery wooded floor.

"Watch your steps Nagihiko. Take your time." His mother chided, turning the music player up higher.

_I am_. His teeth meshed together tightly. _I'm trying_.

He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to apologize for being a failure in the past two years, and for losing that big competition in Hong Kong…for having some weird condition and blacking out because he got angry, for not being able to do the stupid steps perfectly. Nagihiko stopped, heaving out a huge breath and leaning against a nearby wall for support. And for not loving to dance like he used to.

His eyes widened in shock at his own thought.

Nagihiko curled his fist tightly in defiance. _No! I love it, I've always loved it! _

A cool hand pressed to his cheek and he turned to it's source in surprise. "Honey, are you alright?" His mother questioned, her voice soft and concerned. He forced a smile and pushed her hand away gently, and shifted to adjust his tied up hair that had come somewhat undone.

"I'm fine and…" _Say it! _"I'm sorry for what happened today." The words tumbled out like a pathetic excuse, and he couldn't take them back or start over. Nagihiko resisted the urge to roll his eyes at himself. His mother's face hardened and became serious, but her eyes seemed sad.

"I know you are. But that won't change a thing that has happened." She moved and shut the music off, facing away from her son. "The suggestion they gave me seems to be a strange solution, I haven't a clue to what else I can do." Another sigh made Nagihiko cringe. "I don't know what to do…I feel-"

Her voice had cracked and it made the room seem a lot colder than before. Nagihiko stayed frozen in place as his mother stifled a sob into her palm. Even though it was almost completely inaudible, he could hear it and knew the sound by heart from late nights when she thought he had gone to sleep. His mother was crying.

And he had no clue what to do.

She sniffed once and dabbed at her eyes with the end of her sleeve. "Excuse me Nagihiko, I think I need a moment." She padded softly out of the room and shut the door with a quiet click. Somehow, he was left to his own again to think of all the things that had gone wrong over the months. His hair fell across his shoulders as he snapped the clasp roughly in frustration. The strands brushed his cheeks gently, the texture as soft as girl's so people would believe he was of the opposite gender more.

He was a liar.

He was strange.

He was a pushover.

He was imperfect.

His eyes strayed towards the orange sheet sitting right beside the music player. He walked towards it and picked it up, unfolding the way it had been by his mother when she had received it from the principle. If he couldn't do it for himself…

Every word on it seemed to blur as he read it, his face hardening and jaw locking.

The paper suddenly fluttered to the ground as his fingers loosened. Nagihiko turned the Cd on again, flipping the dial up to a deafening volume.

If he couldn't fix himself, he could at least pretend.

His mother's broken expression burned bright into his mind as he closed his eyes and moved to dance.

_At least…for her. _

**Camp S.O.S **

**Strength of Communication**

**You are the key, but we'll help find the lock**

**All summer with fun, group meetings, and finding the strength within!**

**Call us for details: 1800-456-1673 Camp Strength**

* * *

**Wells, hope this wasn't too bad. I feel kind of stupid though, I kept accidentally spelling Nagihiko wrong! Arg, if you catch any extra letters or something wrong in his name let me know. **

**I'm pretty sure I fixed them all...**

**-There are a few hints to things that happened in the past with Nagihiko, they'll probably be revealed sooner or later.**

**-And the whole reason he's going to the camp thing is because he's been caught fighting on school grounds a lot, and this time he used up his last chance and he has to go to some kind of therapy thing to help with his so called 'condition'. Sorry I didn't write that out in the story clearly, it will be mentioned later.**


	3. In the Middle

It had been a year.

One year of being in a house with one of her parents.

Rima sat on a bench outside the office, shifting to cross her legs on top of each other and set her bag across them with her hands clasped directly in front of her. It was a girly gesture she only had practiced a handful of times. She stared as a few lingering students passed her by, some glancing, some smiling. It all depended on the person. On one particular boy that passed she gave her own small smile in return. And all of three things happened like she knew would:

1. He blushed.

2. He stopped and smiled back.

3. He stood there like an idiot for about a minute.

She's done this before of course. There are many perks to having mindless boys on your side to do your every bidding, well, not everything, but stuff she really had no interest in. Although, this time she did it for one reason she can't even explain. Rima Mashiro was bored. Normally, she isn't, but sometimes she's forced to wait in front of the school office for idiotic reasons. Like today for instance.

It was most likely one of those _things_ she had to go to. But she was a little skeptical on the idea considering that she hadn't been informed by either parent about another session. Even though her dad was a bit on the forgetful side, he would remember things that were important. Like this, apparently.

Rima turned her head, the slight and distracting raised voices catching her attention.

"You have no right-" Her mother's voice garbled on the end.

"Like hell you would know what's…it's fine…God Dammit!" The speech was cut off in points that her father had lowered his tone but Rima could catch the familiar 'words' he preferred in angered situations. She pushed back the urge to jump as if something would shatter any moment, smoothing the unflattering skirt she was forced to wear due to the school's uniform policy.

_They live separately now and they still manage to fight_. The small girl thought dryly. _You'd think they'd be more composed. It is **my** school_. Rima counted the steps in her head that echoed against the hallowed glass walls of the office, wringing her hands and resisting the urge to bite her lip. The door opened on twenty.

Twenty steps.

"Ms. Mashiro?" A tall woman questioned. Rima stood up as a reply, swinging her bag over her shoulder and breezing past the door and into the mint smelling office. It always gave off the weirdest stench in the summer. She took a mental breath, following the receptionist quietly and slowly.

-One.-

"Why didn't you tell…I won't accept…no! You are imp-"

-Five.-

"She is my daughter too…this is what's best…impossible my-" Rima heard the next word but chose to shut her eyes for a moment and block it out. Her hair whisked across her cheek as it came loose from her headband, she paused swiping at it with her finger and stopping for a moment. The woman waited at seeing her lag behind but continued on by pushing Rima in front.

-Eight.-

"I didn't sign the…watch your tongue for gods sakes-"

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME-" Rima flinched very slightly, unnoticeable. But she wanted to scold herself anyway. She tried to drag her feet more but the insistent cold hands prodding gently against her back kept her at a constant speed. Right then she hated the receptionist.

-Thirteen.-

"I had a right to know about this Yoshiro! Don't tell me you think this is best, it is not best-"

-Eighteen.-

"It doesn't matter now, what's done is done."

Rima saw both her parents in the open office doorway. Both standing and facing each other with both equal stares full of something that she had seen for most of her life. Her mother was dressed in full-office work clothes, face shining in the light from all the makeup she used. Too much. She never used to wear it that thick. Her eyes shifted hesitantly to her fuming father. He was dressed lazily, looking as if he just shoved on some clothes. His face was riddled with a dark shadow. He hadn't even shaved.

The receptionist pushed Rima fully into the room, making enough noise to have all the attention focused on them. And the woman motioned for Rima to take a seat right in the middle of the room. She watched her parents warily, wondering if they were going to continue their banter now that they had an audience. After a moment they were all seated, with the same tall woman sitting at the head of the desk.

It was the principle. Alarm filled Rima, but she kept her face blank.

She looked to her mother and her father. Their expressions were both identical, holding annoyance and slight frowns. Rima's gaze rested onto the shiny desktop, her hands folding in a habit she had begun to have when in such situations. She felt stuck between her parents, in the middle, always in the middle of their problems. The root.

_Isn't that how it always is?_

"I believe…" The principle started. "That your daughter has been subjected to such behavior of being socially inept, or lacking in any ability to care for her schoolwork?" She paused, papers rustling as she swung around in her chair and grabbed a folder nearby.

Rima's mother stiffened and her eyes grew into angered slits. "I think that is incorrect Ms. Yuiko. My daughter has no problems with her grades and work, and her personal social life is none of the school's administration's business. Am I to believe your job is to make student's speak to one another?"

Ms. Yuiko smiled stiffly, plopping the folder on her desk with a flick of her wrist. "I think you misunderstand the situation Ms. Mashiro, that is not what I mean to say. Your…excuse me, Rima's father-" She indicated with a tilt to her head towards said man. "Has brought an important suggestion to the table. It is not my decision but his, and I would highly suggest you listen and give it a try." The woman leaned in, flipping the folder for Rima's parents to read it correctly. She pointed to a particular part, running her finger along the text for extra measure.

_**Strength of Communication**_

"I will not force my daughter to do something unnecessary-"

The man next to Rima clenched his jaw tight. "Keiko, listen, just listen for once!"

The words, the raised voices, everything in the room seemed to melt away. Suddenly, Rima couldn't feel the air against her face, the carpet beneath her feet. She felt nothing, heard absolutely nothing. All she could see was the paper right in front of her nose, staring at her, mocking her. She wanted to scream like her parents, act like a child and run from the room and rip the paper to shreds.

_No…I won't…this is not real…_Her bottom lip trembled as she felt like she could cry. _They think something wrong with me, that I'm some kind of freak!_ She read the lines over and over, the highlighted orange paper blinding her senses and imprinting into her mind like some kind of stupid algebra problem she couldn't figure out.

**Camp S.O.S **

**Strength of Communication**

**You are the key, but we'll help find the lock**

**All summer with fun, group meetings, and finding the strength within!**

**Call us for details: 1800-456-1673 Camp Strength**

Was she going?

"Absolutely not!" Her mother sounded by her ear, a reply to one of her father's statements.

And for once, Rima agreed.

* * *

**Rima didn't see Nagihiko until about a month after this, which is when he and Utau get signed up for the program. So, they haven't met (Well, seen) eachother in this chapter. Which might seem a bit weird in chapter placement, I hope it isn't too confusing...Rima's parents are divorced, and she referred to the year in which she hasn't been in a house with both her parents at the same time for that long. **

**The '**_things_**' is meetings with the school counseler about the divorce, but Rima didn't think it was one of those since both her parents were there.**

**Amu's up next!-Ikuto's lateness to picking Utau up in the first chapter will be explained in hers. I'm done with it, so it will be up on the tenth.**

**-I'm not sure if it ever mentioned Rima's parents names, I couldn't find them so I made them up. If anyone knows them and it bothers you, let me know and I'll change it.**


	4. Backseat Driving

A pink heart studded cell phone clattered to the sidewalk in the hot afternoon on the official last day of school. It broke on impact, shattering a few pale plastic edges beyond repair and onto a very busy road. A few heads turned at the noise, but sniffed and dismissed it when they saw nothing particularly interesting about the sight.

The owner of the broken object stood shocked for a moment, staring wide-eyed at her brand new phone laying scratched and damaged against the cement like some kind of discarded toy. On practiced reflex she managed to seem indifferent picking it up and slightly bored even. But if you really knew Amu Hinamori, she wasn't bored, she was freaking out.

_Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!_-She thought, quickly gathering the separated ends of her broken cell, hopping about and trying to look inconspicuous throughout the entire thing. This was not good, it wasn't even crap-worthy, it was worse than that. She flicked back sweaty rosette strands of her hair, placing the pink hued pieces in her bag gently as if it were even more breakable. Which they weren't because she had completely mutilated it anyway. Amu let out a quiet note of pain as she sliced her finger on one of the broken pieces of her phone.

She brought it back out of her schoolbag, staring at it with panic.

Now how was she supposed to hide _this_? Not that she is normally a big liar to her parents, just a temporarily put-offer with subjects like these. It wasn't a really deep cut but a pretty long nasty looking line that wouldn't heal easily. She couldn't even bandage it properly or quickly! Her house was too far away and she still had a good half-mile to walk before it came into view.

Why did Seiyo High have to be so distanced from her house? Amu sighed, putting her finger hesitantly into her mouth and grimacing at the sharp tang of salt from the wound. Stupid bus, she wasn't even late getting on….

"Stupid bus driver." She grumbled, with her finger still pressed to her tongue. So it came out garbled and strange to her ears. But she was sure there was no more audience to witness her ramblings to herself, so she continued to talk to nothing. Amu took a step, pulling her finger from her lips and making a face as she tasted the blood remnants against her taste buds. "Yuck."

"Today's the last day of school, it should be amazing!" She said hushed but loud enough that a passerby could clearly hear. Amu paused, looking up at the cloudless sky. A light, and it was really barely there, wind picked up, brushing across her arms and winding up through her hair.

"It is a nice day out though, huh?"

"Sure is." A deep lazy voice answered.

Amu whirled, her eyes straining against the pressure of surprise that made them go wide. She blinked a couple of times, unsure of whether or not she had just humiliated herself beyond relief. He was swinging some keys back and forth, dressed casually and leaning slightly against an old beat up car and just…looking at her. His azure gaze was alight with amusement, lips barely (just barely) tipping to the side into a smirk.

The man yawned, rubbing at his eyes as she stood frozen.

Amu finally registered that time hadn't stopped in her embarrassment, and moved to try and hide her blush from surfacing by force. She pinched her cheeks for a millisecond, hoping to god he wouldn't notice during his sleep-yawn-fest. It usually did the trick in school when she retreated to the bathroom after a face-off with a student. She always blushed right after for some odd reason or other. It probably had to do with something stress related…

His eyes were opened wider now, as if his grogginess were finally clearing up somewhat. He stood up straighter, looking at her more with a sort of curiosity. Amu fidgeted, really confused if she should reply or say something to make him stop staring at her.

"Um…" _Get with the program Amu, do what you normally do! _She cocked her hip, her face becoming that rebel expression of I-don't-care-thing. "Yeah, thought taking a walk would be nice. Don't really get many days like this." Stupid comeback. That was totally lame.

She waited for his eyes to roll, or the expression of weirdo get out of my face. His eyebrows popped up ever so slightly, a small tug of his lips like he thought the situation still funny. Amu did a double take, letting her tough exterior slip into uncertainty. This wasn't what happened, they were supposed to be on the defensive of oh-you-think-you're-tough, or even another-crazy-tough-chick. He was starting to make her feel out of her element.

"Taking a walk." He finally spoke, making Amu jump. His eyes trailed to the other neighboring houses as if to tease. "Haven't seen you around before." The statement wasn't a direct question and she knew it. The man was aware she wasn't from the area, he was toying with her and seeing what else she would do.

"Well, I'm not really from around here." She replied hesitantly and immediately regretted it. He could be some kind of stalker or murderer and she had just told him she was far away from home! Stupid, stupid, stupid! "B-but, I'm from the next town over, real close by." Amu resisted the urge to strongly slap her forehead. Oh yeah, that sounded convincing. Just add more stuttering next time.

"So, you need a ride?" That was blunt. Very blunt. Amu cocked her head at him, uncertain of what he actually had just said. He waited for her response, not at all fazed by her odd look.

"Oh." She suddenly piped up. Her teeth came against her lip as he scrutinized her again. "Um, no, that's alright, it's not a long walk from here." Lies. Amu cursed herself inerrably, gritting her teeth against the impulse to say yes and hop into the stranger's car. Rima always said she trusted too easily. This time she tried to go with her parents precaution and rules about strange boys. Where was that getting her?

A very long walk home.

Amu suddenly surfaced back to reality at seeing the man staring at her like he was waiting. His expression was yet again entertained, eyes alight with the spark of a mischievous cat getting away with a trick. "Your kind of in my driveway…"

She looked down on impulse, noting the gravely rocks beneath her feet. Her mouth managed a quiet apology, cheeks burning a bright crimson due to the embarrassment flooding her veins. Amu shuffled towards the sidewalk, hearing the loud bang of the car door closing, and the thunderous roar of an engine kick-starting. Her head turned slowly towards the stretching path of gray she would have to walk for at least another half hour. If only Rima hadn't left so early today…

Stones hit her feet suddenly which made her turn sharply. The rusted old car was now almost on the road, crunching along the driveway slowly, as if deliberately even, that it had Amu pausing and thinking to do the irrational. Her feet seemed to take a life of their own as she went to wrap her knuckles on the barely tinted black windows, wincing as she hit the cut on her finger. Amu quickly hid her injured hand and smiled nervously at the man she had only just met.

Her teeth came to rest a millisecond on her bottom lip as she racked her mind for the right words. She then resorted to the fake Amu Hinamori, going for the indifferent expression of hm-why-not-I got-nothing-better-to-do. She opened her mouth wide and gave her best small smile.

"Is that offer still up?"

I...(AM)...fru-strated-now:::Be'''''cause_th_e-Ed_it/but_ton_won't()L^et...me_p)ut:::a##line{*}he-re

_Oh god, how did I end up here? _She could swear he almost laughed at her when she asked for a ride, maybe that deep throated chuckle wasn't just her imagination. He was steadily driving towards her house now, the directions very unclear and vague mainly because her mouth decided to betray her and stutter like crazy.

She stopped mid-way trough the explanation, and couldn't meet his gaze for over five minutes. Who wouldn't be nervous around this guy? He was cool, calm, collected, and just plain mysterious. The man must have been popular with the girls in high school. Looking at him now, he could probably pass for a student in college. Even though she didn't really have any taste in boys (as said by her friend, Rima.) seemingly, she could tell this guy could probably be mistaken for some kind of celebrity or model. Amu covered her mouth, picturing him strutting, _strutting_, down a runway. The thought became too much apparently because she let out a snort to her evident horror.

She felt him look at her oddly during a traffic-light stop, obviously curious. Amu felt like groaning, or screaming at herself for the mistake at being heard.

"Something funny?" He asked, or sort of mumbled while turning on the radio.

She folded her arms tightly, giving him a sideways look. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Amu shook her head, shutting her eyes as she heard the words exit from her mouth. God, she needed to be locked up somewhere. This was just too humiliating. After a while her ears perked, and she managed to look up. Soft humming notes flowed through the car, barely audible but familiar, and Amu couldn't help but feel a strange twinge at the melody. The music playing had no lyrics, just sound.

Her dad liked classical music and put it on in his study when he was working late. Since the walls were thin to her room, she could hear it clear as day next door. She asked what the name was once, curiosity taking it's toll on her brain. It had a sweet melody if she remembered correctly….but the volume was too low! Amu couldn't tell if it was just some commercial jingle or the actual thing.

And that's when she started to fidget, a lot. They were worn seats but still, it was leather, and leather tended to catch on her certain brand of clothes. Mostly the shiny skirts her mother bought for her or the weird studded fabric on her uniform. Which was, at the moment, what she was wearing.

_Scrriiitttccchhhh_. Amu froze from the sudden loud sound, trying to act natural as the man next to her looked at her strangely. But it was so aggravating! She really wanted to turn up the notch or just ask him to tell her the name of the song. Would that seem too forward, or maybe rude? The leather groaned under her movement again as she fretted visually, tapping the plastic covering of the door. Amu was too lost in her thoughts to notice the distraction she was causing for the driver.

_**Grooann. Scritccchhh**_. _**GROANNNNNN. **_

"Hey."

Amu looked up, wide-eyed. Oh crap. He knew she was going to ask! Now he was going to kick her out because she was being way rude! Okay, maybe that was a bit overboard. He probably just wants to ask something normal…or something…

"Is it hot in here? I do have an air-conditioner." He spoke clearly, somewhat seeming exasperated but quite calm at the same time.

"Huh?" Amu spoke without thinking, her mouth hanging open slightly in surprise.

"You tell me." His lips titled up in that knowing way. "I'm not the one who's drowning out the radio."

It was a sigh. He just sighed that all out. That meant he was annoyed! Or…was he teasing her again? ARG.

Amu bit her tongue to keep the words from tumbling out. She twirled the ring on her finger unconsciously, her eyes trailing up to the glowing blue lighted machine just left of her. She should just tell him. It couldn't be that hard, seriously, this was just normal conversation with people. A cold prick in her chest made her stop cold, the words running from her mind and becoming blank. It seeped along her skin making a shiver crawl across her spine.

_-"She's too good for us normal people."- _Her hand curled around the strap of her bag, knuckles turning white as she breathed out deeply. Amu looked up hesitantly, brushing back her hair as she licked her lips and thought of the question again.

"Um," He looked over, catching her gaze with his dark eyes. "What's the name of this song?"

For an instant she thought he had ignored her as he turned back towards the road and remained silent. But as they came to another stop sign Amu noticed the smirk plastered on his face.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

* * *

"Utau…" He grumbled, seeming to twitch at nothing. Amu stared at him for a moment as they came to her street. She should have gotten out of there as fast as they came to another stop sign. It WAS in walking distance, and a perfectly legitimate reason to leave. He shifted before she had a chance to ask, reaching into his back jeans pocket to pull out a sleek black cell that was vibrating and flip it open; his eyes quickly scanning over the screen like he had done it many times before.

_Oh…I guess he has a girlfriend or something…_Amu thought. She wouldn't have batted a lash at the sudden assumption if not feeling a tiny bit dejected with disappointment. But she felt off about the thought of the young man having a girlfriend, and this brought horror into her system. Why would she feel even remotely sad?

Just because he looks cute-Amu's jaw seemed to take a life of it's own as it dropped down in her own shock. CUTE! Oh god. She just met the guy and she swore to herself she wouldn't base things on looks alone, she thought she owed it to all the guys who Rima rejected that didn't look like they came out of some magazine. Not that her friend accepted any guy for that matter…BUT, nevertheless, she would not go and crush on some dude that looked good. Even if…well, maybe she could like a celebrity or two.

"Hey, is this where you live?"

Amu snapped up straight, eyes wide open as she saw his questioning gaze on her. He almost seemed to think it funny again but Amu saw this coming and rebounded to her senses. She quickly looked around as his car cruised down the road, running her eyes along the many neat rows of bushes and un-cracked sidewalks.

It was her neighborhood. The ideal clean and proper one, as always.

"Yeah…" Amu turned back. "Just a few blocks more-"

Then she felt rammed, punched in the gut with sudden realization. _OH NO! _

"Wait!" She yelled. He seemed to jump out of his skin at this very loud and desperate proclamation, turning sharply in her direction as the wheels veered and let out a deafening screech of protest. He was in fact looking at her now as if she had lost all her sense and gone nuts. She didn't really blame him either. Amu put her thumb unconsciously against her teeth, biting lightly in habit. This wasn't good! If her father saw her coming home in a strangers car he would surely lose it himself!

She glanced at the man again for a second, blushing slightly as she saw he was still looking at her and leaning against the wheel lazily. And it was some older guy no less! If her father saw him…Oh, she didn't even want to think about it. "Uh…" Amu started dumbly, fidgeting under his lifted brows.

"Well, I think this place is okay for you to drop me off, if…" She paused stupidly again and blushed an even redder color. Why was she blushing? _Get a hold of yourself already! _He let out a slight 'hm' under his breath and pressed a button. Amu flinched slightly at the sharp sound of the locks coming undone.

"Sure, if you feel it isn't too far to walk." He stated simply, leaning back into his seat and waiting for her to step out. Amu slid her seatbelt off, looking at her savior hesitantly as she opened the door a crack. She put one leg out, looking back and forth between him and a nearby tree, getting an odd feeling. Her foot tapped against the ground as she watched a bee buzz by a few feet from her. One two three. Four five six. Seven Eight nin-

"A simple thank you would be fine," He smirked. "Unless you're distracted by something else, _sweetheart_."

Amu jumped back , mortified at his words. "NO-WHAT ARE YOU-" She sputtered, blinking rapidly and stomping her feet in frustration as she tripped endlessly on her words. A low chuckle brought her back to her senses as she saw him laughing quietly to himself. "I wasn't even looking at yo-you-!"

"I wouldn't mind to hear what you can think up, but…" His gaze switched to the clock time shining bright above the radio dials. "I'm sort've late, so, is this your final stop?" He asked it so calmly for a second that Amu had forgotten she was mad at him.

"Yes, but-" Amu stopped. He was solely focusing on her again, his eyes intensely bright with amusement.

"Oh forget it!" She spat hotly, turning on her heel and clomping away loudly in her anger. Tease, tease, tease! That guy is beyond impossible! Amu was so sucked up into her own thoughts she didn't notice the car slowly edging up beside her. When she finally did turn her head at the old chugging engine, a loud screech exited from her mouth in surprise.

"What the-" Amu whispered to herself, noticing the rolled down window and the familiar man inside.

"What's your name?" He questioned suddenly. Amu stopped causing him to brake.

"Why? You're probably some perverted stalker…" The last part she had muttered to herself, but he had heard it anyway and perked slightly at the two words.

"You don't even know what that means…" He mumbled under his breath. Amu hadn't heard this and was still fuming at him on the sidewalk with a slight urge to just run away and forget about the whole thing completely. "It's polite, after all, I did drive you all the way home. Unless you'd rather let me call you something else…?" The man finished, waiting for a response.

Amu gritted her teeth. He was trying to make her feel guilty! "Like what?"

He smirked as if expecting this. "There's _pinky_, for one. _Strawberry_…_Cherry_, or would you like me to call you something less color related?"

Amu heaved out a sigh, rolling her golden eyes to the cloudless sky. "Fine. Fine…it's…" She suddenly made a notion of surprise, her finger pointing enthusiastically into his face. "Aha! If I have to tell you mine, give me your name." _If you do, that way I can see who the heck you exactly are. _She was visibly pleased with herself at this conclusion, and knew for a fact he wouldn't give his up so easily-

"Ikuto." The answer came out clear as day to her ears and she couldn't have been more shocked if she tried.

"What?" She asked faintly. To herself mostly but he answered again.

"Ikuto." He said it more dully and bored this time, an expectant look in his gaze. Amu crossed her arms, trying to get over the defeat in her chest but failing miserably. She looked to the concrete, tracing the neat lines separating each squared block with her eyes, simmering in her frustrated state. That wasn't supposed to happen, he was not supposed to answer!

She breathed deeply through her nose, muttering.

"What was that?" Ikuto questioned half-heartily with barely hidden amusement.

She turned towards him sharply. "I said AMU-there!" And was off and running down the block, leaving a very entertained Tsukiyomi Ikuto behind. He smiled softly to himself, pulling out from the side and rolling on down the road. He watched her for a moment, rosette locks flying ever which way and hearing the thick thumps of her feet pounding the ground as she ran out of his sight.

After that, just like her, he left.

* * *

_Stupid perverted jerk, stupid jerk, pervert jerk-wad! _

The plate in her hand clanked echoingly against another as she plopped it in the cabinet. She was careful to hide her now bandaged cut, volunteering to dry while her mother washed. Amu still had yet to mention her new broken cell-phone...

A wispy cool sound continued in the kitchen, sounding in Amu's ears as she moved to the growing pile of recently washed dishes.

Her mother looked at her curiously as she washed the night's dinner off the plates and cups.

"Careful with those, sweetheart, they're fragile."

Amu winced harshly at the term her mother used to call her. But Midori had turned away, scrubbing away at the grim and humming softly to Amu's relief. If she had seen, than it would have led to a concerned question and she had to admit it, Amu was a terrible liar. The young girl sighed, pulling up her loose sleeves again and wiping lazily at a glass surface. The distant happy chatter of her father made her smile.

Ami and Tsumugu were both watching a new reality show. Her little sister had been ecstatic about it for weeks, being a big fan of music artists (mostly pop) and the like, she about had a heart attack knowing that her old favorite wasn't going to guest star after all. It was about some singing competition or other, and Amu had about next to nil interest. She really hated seeing people crushed when they were cast out.

"Amu." Her mother called quietly. Said girl turned, noticing the large pile of washed silverware, plates, and cups next to her. She still had the same plate in her hands! Amu apologized quickly, putting it away and grabbed for another nearby dish to clean. Her mother gave out a good-natured laugh at this and began to help her daughter.

"You seem a bit lost in your thoughts tonight." Midori piped up, raising her brows in question.

Amu bit her tongue, thinking how to carefully answer. "There's this guy…" Shoot! Why did she have to say that?

"Ah." Her mother noted. "Well, did this 'guy' happen to drop you off today?" Amu froze at the words, stopping her current action and staring at the woman in slight uneasiness.

"Um…kinda…" She answered almost inaudibly, afraid her father would hear.

Midori laughed softly again. "Don't worry, he's sucked into the show just like your sister. Though, your father has to get past this 'Amu is still six in my eyes' thing sometime. Especially if you have a boyfriend-"

"Mama-" Amu whispered hoarsely, her face going red. "-I do not! He's just from…school." Lie number one.

Her mother's eyes crinkled as she smiled widely. "Oh, really? Well, just tell me when this boy from school is driving you home again. I would like to know about this kind of thing." The words sliced into Amu as she closed the cabinet doors shakily. She felt horrible, beyond what a normal teenager would anyway. It wasn't even much of a lie, yet, it ate at her heart like some painful sickness she couldn't get rid of.

Amu forced a small smile, turning towards her mother. "Okay. I won't do it again."

Midori returned the smile ten-fold, wiping her hands off on a towel. Amu turned to leave, not taking four steps before being stopped by her mother's voice.

"Hold on, Amu." She turned back, seeing an orange paper in her face. Amu took it, confused and slightly curious to what it was. "I thought you'd want to know about this program they have going. Your father and I thought it would be great for you, and that it would get you active during the summer. I heard Rima is going, so you won't be the only new camper!" Her mother seemed so cheery at the idea Amu almost didn't register the last word.

_Wait…camper? Rima's going? Going to what?_

Amu looked down at the flyer.

**Camp S.O.S **

**Strength of Communication**

**You are the key, but we'll help find the lock**

**All summer with fun, group meetings, and finding the strength within!**

**Call us for details: 1800-456-1673 Camp Strength**

Camp…

Amu's eyes shot wide.

_WHAT?_

* * *

**Well, that was fun! I enjoyed writing Ikuto and Amu's interactions. **

**-Important note: Rima and Amu know eachother from school! They're the only characters who knew eachother previously before camp. **

-**Yaya and Kairi are also a pairing in this story, though, I probably won't include them as much since it's not my most favorite pairing. My sister pointed out to me about them earlier, and I was like CRAP! I totally forgot to include them in the summary as a pairing! Uggggg, I hope you guys aren't bothered by not knowing this! I also feel like a complete idiot for having to go and change the number from six to eight teens too. **

**And I'd also like to explain the Camp thing:**

**Camp SOS is a side program to the real camp. They have normal campers and then they have the other ones in the program. bma925 (I'm sorry for not making this clear!) I'm only doing chapters with the flyer's on the main charecters who are going into the side program, and the others are just going because they signed up for the normal thing. It's basically a sports camp. **

**Unless, you guys want separate chapters for everyone? I could do one on Kukai, Yaya, and Kairi, but I wasn't really planning on it...do you think I should? **


	5. Optimistic Sobriety

**This is a short chapter, sorry! I won't be back to writing for awhile soon because I'm going on vacation and stuff...so I wanted to finish up the introductions.**

**Oh, yeah~! Did anyone read Shugo Chara Encore chapter 4? It's so adorably cute, you have to read it! There's Kutau and Amuto, and a little of every pairing basically. Though, I really wish they showed what happened in the future, that would have been awesome. But I'm somehow glad they left it up to people's imaginations.**

**Well, onto the story-**

* * *

"Kukai-!" a woman called to the unruly haired boy, her tone cross; eyes fierce. "How many times have I told you to chew your food? I've raised you boys all these years to be polite and mannerly. You're putting your poor mother to shame."

"Don't worry, he's the youngest. By default he doesn't count," Unkai stated without a beat. He lazily lolled his head back and forth, his gaze skimming the ceiling as if he in fact had nothing better to do at the moment. Kukai gave his brother a feigned hurt expression, pausing in his haste to shovel food into his mouth.

"Aw, why so cold? I haven't seen you around in awhile."

The young man sighed heavily, leaning onto the kitchen counter. "Busy…Sides' I'm more curious to hear about your day. Were you late cause of some chick or what?" Their mother shot him a disapproving look at his more than rude terms. Unkai raised his brows as if he hadn't a clue to what she was implying. She clucked her tongue and slowly shook her head, grabbing for Kukai's now completely food-free dish.

Kukai grinned, forestry eyes bright. Briefly, the blond pigtailed girl sprang to mind. But if he were to mention a girl, any girl for that matter, he would never hear the end of it. "Nah, I had some practice with the guys."

Unkai sighed at this, mild disappointment crossing over his features. "Figures." He twirled the cap in his hands absently, walking steadily away from the kitchen and into the next room. The youngest brother quickly rapped his knuckles against the tabletop than sprang up from his seat. He was suddenly stopped by a short woman, a towel slung over her shoulder, a knowing expression stretching across her features.

Mrs. Souma gave her son the softest touch on the shoulder, a concerned light showered over her eyes as she stalled him from leaving the room. He turned, both brows slanting downward in slight confusion at her sudden switched attitude.

She coughed quietly once, leaning onto one hip. "I don't think today's the day. He's just not up for it, honey, you know that." Her tone had grown considerably lower, barely audible, as if she was trying not to be heard by something.

The tan boy looked down briefly, lips barely making their way into a forced smile.

Or someone.

He blinked the thought back, his mind snapping to another subject. A positive subject. Kukai's lips stretched out into a signature grin, blinding and happy looking to anyone that would be passing by.

His mother had caught the look, the millisecond of doubt clouding his features only moments before.

"If you first don't succeed, try, try again," Kukai recited from memory. "He said it to me. Even after I wanted to quit after losing so many games. He told me that, mom. I might as well try and help him out too."

His mother shook her head sadly. "No. It's not a matter of helping him, Kukai. He's capable of doing that himself…not in the way you're thinking. What you are doing now is only having a negative effect. You can't force that on someone so early. This is different Kukai, very different." She looked at him once more, returning his weary smile with her own warm one. Than she walked away, into another doorway that lead to the laundry room.

Kukai sighed, rubbing at his head roughly. The action caused his already unruly hair to stick even farther out every which way. He paid no mind, absently scratching at his face as he gradually came out from the open entryway and into the living room.

The low rumblings of the t.v. set hit his ears first, than the strange smell of medicine wafted through the air like some kind old fog. Kukai scrunched up his nose and licked his lips nervously as he remembered his mother's words. He barely felt the carpet beneath his feet as he took a few more steps towards the one lone couch in the middle of the room. A spiky auburn head peaked out from the back reminding him of what he was exactly going to do.

He had done this a million times before in the past year and a half. What was different?

_What you're doing now is only having a negative effect. _

Kukai stopped, frozen at the bombardment of strange hurt. It stung at the base of his chest, winding it's way into his throat as he only stood there dumbly and numb. This whole time he had been trying to help, but somehow he had been making it worse for his brother. The process slower, the recovery time probably non-existent now.

His eyes strayed towards the screen, noticing the familiar scene of running and white medal bared goals.

And then he heard the low noise. Kukai stilled, a foreign sense of mass unsettlement twisting it's way into his gut. It wasn't strange for him to hear his mother cry occasionally. Mostly, it was due to her whacked out emotions on certain a week every month. He was used to it. Sometimes, it would happen to him or one of his brothers when they lost a game. But that was back when they were young.

Kukai's hands flexed to fists as he heard the practically muted sobs sound with the roaring fans of soccer on the t.v. screen. It cast an eerie illuminated light across the darkened space, flashing on and off as commercials came and went after one another.

Somehow, he just stood there. For ten minutes he listened to his brother's private tears.

And finally, when they stopped he stepped farther in and came to sit next to Kaidou. The eldest of the Souma brothers didn't even acknowledge Kukai's presence, his gaze was shrouded over in an odd shadow, far off and looking somewhere no one else could see. Kukai picked up the remote on one of the armrests and turned up the volume. It pounded into the space loudly, making Kukai flinch at the sudden change.

Kaidou seemed to shake out of his reverie, his slightly misted eyes snapping back into focus. He looked over at Kukai this time, good-naturedly tousling the younger boy's hair. Kukai opened his mouth, words that he would have said earlier whizzing by and going straight into the back of his mind.

Want to go and kick the ball around-

-you up for some soccer by chance-

-How about some soccer before the sun goes down-

They all faded away and new ones settled against his tongue.

"Anything good on today?" Kukai questioned, raising his brows expectantly. His brother seemed surprised almost, but the emotion ebbed off and soon he turned back towards the t.v.

"Same old crap," Kaidou answered gruffly.

But Kukai noticed the way his brother took the remote and flipped off the sports channel, as if he thought Kukai hadn't noticed what they were on. But he had. His neon green gaze flitted towards his brother's elevated leg sitting on another nearby chair. It looked perfectly normal.

But it wasn't.

"Isn't it always?" Kukai replied quietly to his brother's previous statement.

"Huh?" Kaidou grunted out halfheartedly.

A tired smiled came to his lips as he said 'nothing' in response. He looked at the crumpled paper on a nearby end table, shining a bright blue and seeming vastly displaced in the dark area. The title read large decorative letters as: CAMP STRENGTH. His mother had suggested it to keep him seasoned over the summer. Which was only a month or so away.

Kukai closed his eyes and leaned his head back onto the soft and worn cushion.

_Sure, why not?_

* * *

**Very...short. I hope it isn't _too_ short for you guys! But now that I'm done with the introductions we can all get on with the camp! :D**

**Explanations:**

**-Blue flyer, it is the original one to the Camp. Kukai is going as a normal sports participant, basically.**

**-His brother. It's mainly for people to read between the lines...I had my friend read it over and she got it right at the end. But if you don't understand, Kukai's going to reveal it himself later in the story. **

**-The time zone in this chapter is a few months before school ended. In chapter 4, Amu is out of school. I know, weird chapter placement! I hope it's understandable? Maybe I should just put this as chapter two instead...hmm...**

**Thanks for reading! Any comments, thoughts, I'd love to hear...well, read!**


	6. And here we are

**I'm warning all readers. This chapter is looooonnnnggg. I don't know why, but my fingers just wouldn't stop typing! I wanted to add more actually, but that would have probably made some people's brains implode.**

**Has anyone else noticed that no one is updating lately? Maybe it's just me...**

* * *

"_Are you serious?"_

"_But…that's just…"_

"_Of_ _Course she isn't serious. Right, Utau?"_

…

It may have been the heat, the stench, or maybe even the fact she had been in a cramped metal death-trap for the past two hours, but she was pissed. Utau adjusted the dark blue sun hat atop her head, shielding her eyes more out of the blazing rays coming from the sky. They had all finally managed to depart off from the bus after riding on canyon and back country roads to stop on only another path in the middle of nowhere.

Their transport had departed a few moments before, leaving the big group of campers and counselers alike to roast in the eighty-five degree weather. Loud and mind numbingly boring chatter had broken out after only around two minutes of the drop off, eating and burrowing it's way into Utau's patience. Coupled with a few other buses full of hot-sweaty teens, from other nearby schools she assumed, it made the noise even worse. She adjusted her shoulder, plopping the bag her mother had stuffed with a year's worth of clothes in onto the dirt ridden ground. It would be a pain to clean it off later but her mind had shut off the reason to care.

Utau began to fan her face with the paper she had received from one of the counselers. It held all the names of her bunk mates (which wasn't many.) and her cabin number. She had glanced at and remembered the information somewhat quickly since it was so little.

"Omygod, it's so FREAKIN hot out!" A girl to Utau's right screeched her face rather red and sweaty from the short time they had been out. All attention was momentarily focused on the girl but it disappeared as she turned to her phone that had been stashed not-so-stealthily in her jean-shorts pocket.

"Yaya's so bored…" The girl muttered, flicking her messily pigtailed hair out of her eyes with a snap of her neck. Utau was tempted to sympathize and add her own complaints but an immediate mental block stopped any and all speech from coming. Her arms came to rest across her chest as she leaned on one foot. She bit her tongue tightly against the decision that had succumbed to her social relationships for so long.

_Say something! _Utau thought angrily but didn't speak for a whistle suddenly sliced through the air. All heads swiveled in the direction of the sound.

A plump and strained smiling faced man stared back. He held a shiny looking clipboard tightly in his grasp, tapping a pencil absently against the wood board. "Good afternoon, campers!"

A few half-hearted calls came from the ride-weary group as a reply. Utau rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt. Everyone is so lazy these days. Not that it was anything new, being what usually happened in school assemblies and the like. There was a slight droning of teens buzzing in chatter as the air grew silent and blazing hot again.

"That was not your cue to talk kids, unfortunately…" The man snapped loudly and rather sarcastically.

Utau didn't like him.

A few other counselors were gathering beside the man, looking just as fed up with standing around in the hot sun as the campers were. There were around three of them-four including the tubby one with the bad attitude. If they all gained together, took out the fat man, they could probably take the bus and drive away home. Utau picked her bag back up and rolled her eyes to herself.

Liked hell that would ever happen.

"There are a few construction projects going on up by the main drop-off point. So, I'm sorry to say you all have to walk from here-"

It was as if everyone was signaled to groan long and loud at the same time. The loudest (and whiniest) came from right beside Utau, the pigtailed girl that was still moaning about the temperature. She even dared to stomp her feet and cross her arms while whining at the same time. Utau watched for a few seconds with raised brows before bringing down her sunglasses and dragging her feet along with everyone else.

Groups had gathered at this point-cliques she should say.

Geeks with other Geeks.

Delinquents with other delinquents.

And the oh-so-cliché popular girls with popular boys.

But that was judging from the outside. She really shouldn't have a say in such a thing, considering…

The image flashed into her mind, a memory so quick and fresh from a few years earlier. Utau stopped, surprised for a moment. A girlie grunt sounded behind her along with a slight shove. There was a loud crash of bags and a person falling to the ground at this. Utau turned, confusion lighting in her eyes. She lifted her shades to peer down at a small mangled shape.

A strawberry haired girl sat on the ground, dirt smudging her knees with a dazed look on her face. She suddenly seemed to realize Utau's attention, quickly turning beet red with embarrassment. Her outfit was entirely not suited for camp, Utau noticed. The girl struggled to stand in her tight skirt, the netted black tights making it even more difficult without giving a show.

A sharp whistle sounded through the air as she tried to scramble up as quickly as possible.

Utau glared at the bold boy, noticing the mortification in the girl's expression. She turned away, not noticing as he suddenly seemed to trip on his own, landing into the dirt face-first.

"I'm so sorry-" Her wide honey eyes shot to the ground as she gathered her fallen things. Campers, boys and girls alike, snickered quietly to themselves as they saw her attire. Anger whipped dangerously inside Utau as she saw their mocking smiles and looks.

The pigtailed girl reached down and grabbed for one of her bags, but a small fragile looking hand took it first.

"I got it," a quiet voice answered.

Utau stood back up, taking note of a small girl. Her hair was perfectly done up in a side ponytail, curled and blond, as if she had recently left a salon. She looked almost doll-like in her baggy camp shirt and shorts.

The murderous look on her face ruined it all. She looked at the pink haired girl, a lifted brow going up in her direction. "What are you wearing, Amu?"

Said girl froze. "U-um… It's not on purpose! I didn't want to wear this-"

"Than why are you?" Her question came out demanding and impatient. Amu's face became perplexed at this point with the bombardment of her friend's curiosity, her arms struggling to carry the weight of all her luggage.

Utau, feeling drastically awkward at this point, cleared her throat. "Well, sorry about getting in your way…"

Amu's face became confused, but then features softened into a small smile. "No, it was my fault. I wasn't looking and everything sort of…" Her ears tinged a soft pink as if she were remembering the previous embarrassing scene. She shrugged with evident difficulty, but still with an understanding smile. "Yeah, you know already."

Surprisingly, Utau almost returned the smile towards the girl. She stopped just in time, turning back without a wave and continued down the dirt path at a leisurely pace.

"Who was that?" She heard the doll-like girl question. There was no negative emotion hidden in her words, just a slight curiosity. Being not too far away and near enough to hear the question, Utau was tempted to turn around and answer it herself. Most of these people seemed recognizable at a glance, most plausible some being her classmates. Amu was likely very knowledgeable of who she was.

She would probably reveal it like any other girl would.

"Um…" There was long pause. Utau waited for the dreaded words to flood the air around her, the sharp feeling of hurt to stab her chest and wind tight enough around her lungs she could barely breathe. That was when her legs took a life of their own, adrenaline pumping through her limbs and taking her further up into the group more so then she'd liked to be. She didn't hear Amu's evaluation of her, nor did she even care to after so many years of being subjected to it without a choice. Not hers per se, but others' words that were exactly like it.

_This is just pathetic; I need to be stronger than this_. Utau thought. _She didn't seem too bad; maybe she doesn't know a thing. _

There were a few remarks from other campers as she pushed past them, a desperate clawing in her chest at wanting to get away keeping her oblivious. Why was she so…scared? It wasn't as if Amu _knew_. She probably didn't, yet…the chance that she did was even greater.

And Utau was tired of taking chances.

"Omf!" A loud grunt sounded in her ears. Utau blinked rapidly, confused. She looked up from the mutilated footpath to see a broad blue-shirted back right in her face. The girl stepped away, miffed. The least he could have done was move. (Although he probably hadn't seen her.) But, she was still angry, and very sweaty from the insane weather.

"Ouch. Sheesh that hurt!" A familiar voice laughed. Before he even turned, before she even saw the blinding white smile, before those two matching green eyes struck hers-Utau's breath caught at the back of her throat, and she froze at the sound of his voice. The same voice that had clogged up her mind for weeks on end. Kukai Souma turned, an easy grin breaking across his lips.

His bright eyes showered over with confusion just as his tan face did.

He took one look at the girl, dumbstruck.

"Huh?"

**0**

**0**

**0**

Rima Mashiro was anything but happy at the moment. It might have been part of the fact that she was forced against her will to go to camp, since they had only needed one guardian signature on the sheet that had doomed her for forty days. It might also be because of the hot as hell heat wave that struck against her heavily sun screened skin. Maybe, but not quite.

She had just met, talked, been belittled (literally) by the most brainless arrogant prick of all time, AND in existence.

But she didn't really want to bother thinking of the 'it' at the moment.

So, she had taken her revenge on some pig that dared to _whistle_in her friend's direction. She knew for a fact that Amu would never wear something like…that, at least not to a camp on purpose. She had helped pack Amu's bag, since the girl had never really had the chance to go to a camp. Not that she'd ever wanted, or wished her parents would let her either. Knowing all this, she researched basic wear for the stupid conspiracy ridden hole-of-crap.

Did she mention she was going to get skin cancer from these rays? Rima tightened her ponytail, and flipped a few annoying strands of curled blond from her face. She could already feel the protective layer of sun-screen melting away with the heat.

"Um…" Amu fidgeted. She was so easy to read at times. "I'm not sure, but she seemed nice?" It came out more of uncertainty and a big fat lie to Rima's ears. The blond, pigtailed, supermodel looking girl appeared anything but nice. She seemed in as much as a foul mood as Rima at the moment. Amu knew who she was, but she remained keen on the idea of keeping her identity a secret.

Hmm…

Most of the campers here were students from her school and neighboring ones, so she could probably find out any time she wanted. Boys in particular were almost too easy to get information out of. A sickeningly sweet smile penetrated Rima's mind, a purple haired boy flashing over and over in her memory. She wrinkled her nose, glaring sharply at the familiar lean form just ahead of them.

Maybe not _all._

Loud laughing and shouts were suddenly heard from way in the front of Rima and Amu. They both perked in interest, trying to look around the thick groups blocking their view.

Amu's brows furrowed. "Eh? What's going on?"

Rima's eyes strayed from the crowd and became trained on the devil incarnate once again. "…I wonder."

**0**

**0**

**0**

"Kukai?" The name against her tongue burned hot and familiar, leaping from her mouth before she could stop it. Utau looked down, angry at herself for causing such attention to be cast on her. A few other boys were lingering around with them, probably some of his friends. They threw her a couple interested looks, slowing down from a few feet ahead of Kukai and Utau.

His confusion slowly ebbed away into a slight curiosity. Kukai's lips titled slowly upward, a blinding smile thrown in her direction seconds later. "Mystery girl knows my name? I hope that's a good thing."

A counselor passed by them, red faced and utterly miserable in the heat carrying a large box marked 'utensils'.

"Hustle it up kids. We're not going to wait around all day," she warned before disappearing in the large group, thusly leaving them behind and forgotten.

Kukai's shot the blond girl a wry look. "I sure feel loved in this place." He locked his fingers easily behind his head and waited. For what, she wasn't sure, but in the mood she was in now she didn't necessarily care at the moment. Utau gave him a puzzled brow lift before opening her mouth wide.

"Can you move? You're in my way." Her response was curt. There were a few loud snorts and chuckles from the guys who were standing nearby, a red-faced one seeming to have difficulty holding in his laughter. It was in fact the weirdest scene. The soccer champ-the school jock being rejected so easily by a girl out of the blue; the impossibly imaginative had just occurred.

Kukai's face had frozen over in shock at her words. He obviously hadn't been expecting it as much as the spectators watching. Utau leaned on one hip, fed up with the day and having been forced to attend due to her mother.

And she waited for him to move.

He didn't. What he did was worse.

Kukai plucked the sunglasses from her eyes and placed them on his. "How can you see with these things screwing with your vision?" He noted her pissed frown and angry lighted purple gaze. "Not amused, I see-"

Utau boldly snatched them back, cutting off his speech, and glared as she bounded past the boy. The group looked at the retreating back of the girl, mystified by what had just happened.

A fiery redheaded boy gave Kukai a slap on the shoulder. "Give it up, dude. I know those types, not worth it." A few mumbles of 'yeahs' sounded throughout them all as an agreement.

The tanned soccer player wiped at his sweat soaked forehead. "Not yet. Gotta get her name." He broke into a slight jog, running ahead and skidded to a stop at the side of the still irked pigtailed girl. She didn't even spare him a sideways glance, although she knew he was there. To Utau, he was just an annoying thorn in her side.

"Hey," Kukai greeted casually as if they had just met. "Come here often?"

Utau's eyes became wide in disbelief. "You did _not_ just use that stupid line on me," she choked out, trying not to laugh at his incredulous length to talk to her.

He grinned widely. "There's more where that came from, B-aute-ta-FUL."

The girl's face beamed bright crimson in embarrassment. "Oh God."

"Oh yes."

He took a huge breath and started to shout. "HAVE I DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN-? Because you sure look like an angel to me!" A few laughs erupted from around them. Campers looked towards the boy, amused and interested in what he was up to.

Utau shook her head. "Shut up, please. I'm embarrassed for you."

"Where have you been all my life?" he questioned loudly, looking at her genuinely with curiosity.

She sped up her pace, trying to hide the smile almost breaking across her lips.

Kukai did a little hop in his step, green eyes alight with mischief. "If I could rearrange the alphabet-"

Utau stopped abruptly. "Oh, no. Don't you dare," she whispered darkly

"-I'D PUT U AND I TOGETHER!" He threw up his hands, jumping in front of her as dramatically as possible.

Utau noticed all the stares and loud laughter, growing vastly uncomfortable with the attention. She sighed loudly. "Are you done?"

He paused, face screwed up in mock thought. "Not quite…" Kukai leaned into her face with a grin, his hot breath tickling her cheeks. "Unless you tell me your name."

Utau suddenly stilled. Her hand curled tighter around the sunglasses in her grasp, the plastic edges biting painfully into her skin. She took no notice as his question reverberated into her head, over and over. A slight breeze picked up, winding into her hair as she froze, making the hot weather seem ice cold along her nerves. She let out a shaky breath, unease creeping along her spine as every second passed. If she told him, he would know, he would figure out everything. Along with everyone else.

_**Freak. **_

Kukai suddenly grew serious, leaning back out of her space as he saw her eyes cloud over. The flash of unmasked pain he noticed immediately. "Hey." His tone grew quiet, concerned. "You alright-"

"Kukai!" a girlish shriek sounded. Said boy, along with Utau, both snapped back to reality. Kukai looked towards the loud voice, squinting in the sunlit area.

"Oh," he started. "Ayumi?" His face became puzzled. "What's she doing here…"

"Ayumi?" Utau repeated quietly. Panic seized in her chest, growing deathly cold. She shoved past the boy without thinking, a jumble of emotions whizzing through her body as she struggled to get away from the scene as quickly as possible. Kukai let out a surprised note at her sudden hit, face perplexed once again.

He reached out, grabbing for her arm. "Huh, where are you-"

Utau snatched it back harshly from his grip. "I'm tired of your immature attitude," she growled out, mauve orbs bright with a strange emotion he could not place. "-leave me the hell _alone_."

Kukai stood stunned, now accompanied by his former three friends from before, but also a raven haired girl. He didn't respond to the words being spoken to him as he followed the nameless blond headed girl with his eyes, watching as her light blue tank-toped back faded from view. He unexpectedly felt the sharp pluck of fingers at the side of his shirt and turned on impulse.

His vision was filled with the beaming face of a person he knew for years. Her soft caramel gaze was bright, happy, and familiar. Yet, he wanted the angry, unsure violet eyed one more. At the moment, he wanted to talk to a person he had known for less than ten minutes of his life.

Words blurred past his ears as he tried to focus once more.

"Huh?" he mumbled, dazed.

Ayumi laughed at his spazzy mood. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you in this crowd!" she hit him playfully on the shoulder, but her doe eyes pitched suddenly dark in a fraction of a second. "Were you hitting on some girl, Souma? She went away before I could meet her…" Her tongue went to the inside of her cheek as she rested her hands in the back of her jeans pockets. "Hmm, blond right?"

A breeze whistled through the trees, loud chatter and reunions sounding in his head. Kukai rubbed at his face roughly, thoughts jumbling through his mind at an impeccable speed. He started on his way, joining the trek again with his old friends and newly unexpected companion.

"Yeah," he answered distantly even though he knew it was too late to be acknowledged or remembered, "…blond."

**0**

**0**

**0**

"You look like a man/woman hybrid," she spat frostily into his ear, barely listening to the insistent droning at the front of the assembly hall. Or what they were really supposed to refer it as: The lodge.

He made an amused snort. "That's seriously pathetic from a woman of your caliber. Seriously, go ahead and dazzle me with your insulting talents." Nagihiko didn't even have to turn his head to notice her cheeks flame bright with pent-up rage for him. He sensed the murderous daggers from her eyes first.

Rima glared at the peppy woman speaker to focus her anger. "Oh please, we wouldn't want you crying for your mommy on the first day, now would we?" She reached for a pocket at the side of her shorts. "Just in case, I have a spare quarter. Not that I would give it to you," Rima stated coldly. "Rather, I'd like to speak to your mother for myself and ask her what compelled her to go through birth."

She tsked softly. "To be stuck with a son like you. It's pretty sad."

"I'm wounded," Nagihiko mumbled dryly into his palm, leaning forward into his seat and slouching. He thought it difficult to care that he was taught to remain mannerly, and what he exactly was doing at the moment is against quite a few of the rules. "I don't know how I can live with the thought of myself."

Another involuntary person sat next to the arguing duo, awkwardly trying not to listen to their loud words and sharp insults. And when Amu thought she couldn't become any more emotionally unstable in the fragile situation. She had been listening to the never-ending whispering banter for over ten minutes, absently fidgeting in her seat and aware that they could be caught and punished at any time. The rosette haired girl fiddled her fingers, trying to refocus on the explaining of rules at camp going on a few rows ahead of them. She was tempted to tell the still unnamed boy and Rima both to shut-up, but when had she ever had the guts for that?

And it would probably be…a bit…_mean_…

"You brainless little-" Rima started, her whispery tone growing slightly higher pitched.

"There we go with sizes again. Do I really have to point out our evident differences? I thought you had more smarts than that…Guess I was mistaken." Nagihiko sighed to himself, obviously enjoying this too much. "I suppose it all just went _over your head_."

The petite girl rolled her eyes. "You're not funny." She brought up a hand and began to examine her nails closely, trying hard to ingore the pest right beside her.

Nagihiko hid the sly smile in his palm. "Wasn't trying to be."

"Yeah, right," she replied sarcastically, but quiet enough that he hadn't heard.

It had all started on the bus ride here. If only they hadn't been placed in the same exact seat, everything would have been fine. Evidently, someone thought it perfectly fine to match up Fujisaki and Mashiro together, thinking it wouldn't lead to their gruesome painful torturous death-

"Rima," Amu prodded tentatively towards her friend. "You…kind of ripped your…" Her voice faded off as she motioned silently with her eyes towards the papers in the blonde girl's lap. They sat utterly shredded, and unreadable in bite sized pieces against her thighs. Rima seethed silently to herself, tempted to punch a certain long-haired boy in the face. It was her cabin number, and personal information carefully written out by her mother who had made specific copies for her teachers when she was required to go on field trips.

Not that it was a major problem.

Her father (being as equally paranoid) had sent multiple copies to the camp registration office, just in case.

And she could probably receive her cabin information at the office too. No problem.

_Except…_

Why should she bother herself to go to the front office, waste her life, just to receive some stupid document that she was supposed to hand to her counselor for safety reasons? The whole thing had technically been the 'its' fault they were ruined completely. His cocky know-it-all attitude had led to the demise of her precious documents. Rima's eyes slitted dangerously. Oh, he was going to suffer the long walk and tortuous minutes with her.

She steadily reached her hand into the small backpack at his side, knowing it was his from the bus-ride over.

Once she felt the paper edges, Rima plucked it right from the wide opening and dropped it to watch it flutter towards the sleek oak wooded floor. Nagihiko immediately took notice of the rippling sound, his face brefily flashing with puzzlement at seeing his personal documents on the ground.

Rima looked from the corner of her eyes, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Just as he went to pick it up, she snapped her foot down.

_**Riiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppppp**_

A shocked Nagihiko sat there stiffly, looking at the hazzerdly torn piece of yellow in his hand. Rima still faced forward, moving her foot back in its former place and dragging the other large part under her seat, her lips tilting slightly into a small innocent looking smile.

"Oops."

In a far away part of the room, another blond girl sat. She was slightly taller, slightly bigger, but vastly different from Rima Mashiro. Utau's arms crossed tightly over her chest as she placed one leg ontop of another in a stubborn fashion. She was in one of the farthest rows from the front and this became her biggest annoyance of the day.

The guy leaned further into her space, his cocky stature making her mood bar dip even lower. She knew he was completely different from the friendly Kukai she had pushed away before, and she really began to feel a little sorry for her panicky actions towards the boy. But…Utau's jaw set tightly again. She did it for a reason, a certain reason he would understand if he knew.

"Hey, babe, give a guy a hint, huh? Where you from?" he questioned, his voice quiet because of the camp manager talking up ahead but still ripe with overconfidence.

She glanced, looking him over once. He had refined features that was for sure, probably one of the most worshipped, fantasized and asked out frequently. He had short black cropped hair, slightly toned arms (she assumed he played a sport considering that was what the camp was known for) peeking from his long shirt sleeves. His smile was different, ungenuine, arrogant, and held no real warmth that he wanted to actually know her. From what she could guess: he was thinking about the one thing boys always had on their minds and didn't really care what came out of her mouth.

Unsurprisingly, she already hated him.

"Nowhere." She answered cooly, but knew he wouldn't back off so easily.

"Nowhere," he repeated with a grin, one she didn't care for. "-come on, cut me some slack. Got a name?"

Utau frowned, preoccupied with trying to hear what was being directed to them. Annoyance flared in her chest as she realized how similar the situation had become compared to the one with Kukai. She tried to block out his inane prodding into her business, taking to the action of ignoring the boy completely.

"And it's important you keep in mind your own restraints, guys. Not everyone can deal with the strain on their bodies, especially campers who aren't on a team, or haven't had previous experience with sports. Tommarow you'll have the entire day to decide on your activities." The young woman looked down at the stack of papers in her hands, a rustle of pages sounding for a moment. "-but its first come first serve. You may not get it in the time slot you requested or even the activity. Your counselors will be giving the papers to you when you get settled into your cabins. So, turn those in as quick as possible." She made a sudden 'oh' note under her breath.

"Camp S.O.S. members are a bit different in scheduling, those in that group will-"

Her eyes shot wide as she felt the hot fingertips against her thigh, searing into her nerves and making her sky-rocket up and out of her seat. The chair clanged to the ground harshly, thundering through the atmosphere and cutting off any and all speech up front. She glowered at the now surprised boy at her side, "What the hell do you think you're doing, huh!" Utau bit out, her voice rising high and shaking unsteadily. She suddenly felt the eyes, everyone's mind focused primly on her and the confusing scene. But she couldn't stop the uncontrollable rage and unwashed fear pounding into her limbs, making her want to do something, anything to make it go away.

A counsuler bounded over, light brown gaze hard and concerned. "Hold up, hon." He put a soft hand on her shoulder and looked accusingly at the still caught off guard male.

"Hideo, I've warned you multiple times." He spoke low and strictly, as if to try and not be heard by the entire room. "I don't know what happened, and frankly, considering it's you, I don't want to."

Hideo's eyes flashed dangerously. "It was a freakin joke! Lay off."

The counsuler stepped towards the boy threatingly. "Out, _**Now**_," he growled through his teeth, jabbing his thumb at the two double doors acting as the entrance. Hideo pushed up from his seat loudly, defiantly, sauntering towards the exit as slowly as possible. Utau had avoided his eyes the entire time, wishing to just be swallowed up and to dissapear from the unwavering attention. She let herself be led over to the side, away from the conscious ears of other campers.

"Guys, focus up here please," Ms. Suki spoke loudly, capturing the unwilling minds of every teenager in the

room except one. "And back to the members of Camp S.O.S-"

The words dropped off from her hearing range as Utau was faced with the bright-eyed councilor head on.

He sighed, rubbing at his faintly bearded chin. "I swear that boy." The man looked up, catching her gaze with his own. "Are you alright?"

She willed her neck to nod weakly. "Yeah. Fine." The words mumbled from her lips as she tried to focus on her heart and slow it down to its normal pace.

The man gave her a non-convinced look but seemed to take the answer anyway. "Good. If he did anything inappropriate to you, anything at all, report it to me. Normally, he goes after the quiet ones. Borderline sexual harassment if you ask me…" He shook his head to himself. "Poor girls never say a thing about it. They're too scared to admit something like that. If it were my choice, I'd have never accepted him this year after what happened-"

He looked away uncomfortably, suddenly aware of the words coming from his mouth. "Anyway, if you need someone to talk to, I'm the guy. Or _one of them _I should say. All of the cousulers specializing with the S.O.S group all have time slots where campers can confide in them, and yeah, I'm a part of that."

"Okay, dismissed, head straight to your cabins, guys!" The young woman up front announced suddenly, and it immediately cut through the thick silence like a knife. A loud roar erupted from everyone at this, groups rushing into their tight knit circles once again, chairs screeching back against the hardwood floor. Utau took this as her leave also, giving her savior a stiff 'thanks' and bursting from the double doors on her right.

And she didn't hear the voice of someone stopping her, no fingers prodding at her elbow to catch her attention. If there was, she didn't pay it any mind. Her ears were mute to the friendly chatter and campers still catching up to old friend's as she took the long walk by herself. That's all she had to do. Get through the summer, catch no attention, then her last year of high school would come.

It was better this way.

After this is over, everything will become easier.

_Everything that happened will disappear._

**0**

**0**

* * *

**I don't like it, but I can't bring myself to change anything. Hopefully it isn't as horrible as I think...**

**Okay, I'm gonna confess here...I wrote and finished this chapter three weeks ago. *Dodges various fatal sharp objects* I KNOW, I'M HORRIBLE! I just felt like I would disappoint you guys, since a lot of you were excited to get to the whole camp part. In the time I have been procrastinating putting this up, I've written about four more Kutau stories. My hands are possessed. I'm seriously hesitent to put them on, (they all have smilier themes ...) but, yeah, just thought I'd say something random. **

**I really do hope this chapter dosen't dissapoint anyone, I tried, I really did. **

**Important note: If I don't mention something right off the bat, or reveal an important detail, it WILL be in the story later. Eventually, everything will be revealed. I know I'm not very straight with mentioning important stuff in every single chapter, but it will pop up somewhere. And if it doesn't, then by all means ask me a question if your confused. I just thought I'd explain that so I didn't have to explain every single detail when I posted chapter after chapter. Oh, and I will be replying to reviews in my author notes from now on. I feel like an idiot when I accidentally reply twice and when I can't remember if I've replied to someone or not...so, if you've got questions they will be answered in the AN. Unless I need to keep a secret for the plot, I will try to answer as best as I can.**


	7. Distasteful Introductions

**Remember me? If you are an old reader of this story and have come back to read this chapter, THANK YOU! **

**Well, hopefully this is enjoyable to you new or old reader :)**

* * *

_"Forget about it Utau, we won't tell."_

_"You promise?"_

_"We swear."_

* * *

She was feeling rather satisfied but very…_irritated _at the same time. Rima Mashiro sat with her legs crossed just as she had that fateful doomsday outside the principle's office, leaning a small fisted hand against her chin. There was a steady thrum of an air conditioner working full force in the cool but strangely dry aired room. Only a select few chairs dotted the interior, and they were all closely pushed together. The entire building was smaller then she had imagined, and there was no helping her to get as far as possible from the prick right in front of her. The registration office was beginning to annoy the hell out of her.

She was as of the moment looking at her nails as if they were just oh-so-fascinating, pointedly ignoring his existence altogether. He didn't seem to mind, well, the last time she had checked, he had been pretty pissed at her for tearing his registration forms 'accidentally'.

_Well, there's no point in regretting it now. _Rima thought, eyeing the receptionist camp lady at the small wood desk towards her right. This little interruption in her schedule was taking much longer then anticipated. Actually, their forms were taking _annoyingly_ too long to be copied. After having been put through the brief torture of the camp introductions and being freed to head towards her cabin, Rima and Nagihiko had, begrudgingly together, immediately headed towards the nearest counselor to resolve their form problems. Although, both had technically been her fault, Nagihiko gave no inclination that she had done so on purpose. So, here they were.

She sniffed dismissively.

He deserved it.

"Are you smirking to yourself?"

Rima looked up and couldn't help the automatic chilled frown that rested against her lips in his direction.

"You're imagining things."

His bemused expression didn't waver with her coolly stated reply, Nagihiko only shifted in his seat to lean farther back in a more comfortable position. "Of course, because I'm crazy right?"

Rima glanced up at the ceiling, wrinkling her nose at the awful puke-green color. "Considering you just randomly punch people and like to harass women -"

"Woman?" He looked at her, confused. "I don't see one. Last time I checked, 'women' were polite, modest and…developed."

It took all her will power not to nail him where it hurts then and there. Just because she lacked in a few areas other girls were granted generous amounts of didn't mean she had absolutely no figure! Rima bit the inside of her cheek for some time, contemplating whether she should even bother to answer the idiotic male before her.

He titled his head at her suddenly and spoke before she could say anything. "You're pouting again."

She felt her eyes narrow at the comment. What did he mean by that? "Pouting…no I'm not -"

He smiled that 'no teeth showing' smile and interrupted her. "Look in the mirror if you don't believe me."

Rima about turned her head to glance at the glass next to her head hanging up on the wall in a rustic western-styled frame. But she stayed strong and continued to simmer away in her anger silently, resting her arms across her chest to distract her temptations. She didn't believe him and she wouldn't just follow his demands like some pathetic girl without a single thought outside of cute boys! Due to her ignoring Nagihiko for the next few brief silences, only the ticking of the lonely clock was heard other than the rustling of papers from the receptionist who thought their little argument was rather amusing. The faint smile she held wasn't only because of their little tussle but also for the fact that their forms had already been reprinted already and were more than prepared to be given to their counselors.

The middle aged woman brushed back her auburn curls and clicked her pen on the counter as she continued to write on the form in front of her with an intentional slow speed.

"You're still pouting -" Nagihiko piped up with a gentle, but mocking to Rima's eyes, smile.

"Liar," Rima hissed, cutting him off.

Oh yes. The receptionist grinned. This was definitely better than sitting alone in the heat.

* * *

Utau really hadn't been expecting the loud, irritating chatter and giggling pack of girls to bombard the spacious and quiet scene of the cabin. Well, maybe she should have considering she had gone to camp before a few years back when she was ten or so. She had just begun to unpack when they entered.

The automatic mute button seemed to be activated as they saw her. She supposed that's what made their talking stop because obviously she was the only one who had gotten there early.

Utau continued to unpack, taking an unnecessary long time to place her jeans on the bed neatly. She knew that was coming. The silence, that abrupt shocked quiet that always happened when someone was involved in an event that was deemed scandalous or good enough to gossip about. Funny how she had been subjected to something like this more than once in her life. But last time it had been worse, much worse. Utau brushed some hair from her face as she glanced at the now scattering girls who were easing back into chatter once again. They threw curious looks at her, ones that were apparent but not purposefully mocking or mean that used to be familiar to the blonde.

"OKAY!" A loud voice sliced through the climbing decibel level immediately and made Utau's heart jump high and thump hard. "I want everyone here to drop your things and join in a circle." Utau turned, seeing her (she guessed) counselor in loose shorts and a tight hot pink tank top with a whistle around her neck at the doorway of the bathroom. Her hair was wet and dripping onto the carpet. Utau remembered faintly of hearing the shower running when she had first gotten to the cabin.

There was a few groans of protest but the woman who looked to be in her late twenties wouldn't have it.

"I know this is torture to you guys, but hey, you'll live. Now hustle up!" she barked and everyone begrudgingly obeyed. Utau stepped forward towards the circle, finding it difficult to maneuver around the many bunks and bags that had been literally dropped where the girls had been standing. Most of the group was on one side hustled together in a familiar way as if they were all friends. The other held two who looked like sisters and Utau herself. The only one left Utau recognized as the girl she had knocked onto the ground earlier on the way to the lodge. Her expression wasn't as open as before and appeared cold, detached so that it made Utau think she was someone completely different. But the pink hair had her believing otherwise.

The counselor shook her head and gave them all a disappointed look. "Girls, girls! A circle means compact, move _closer_." They all did with a few incoherent mutters but eventually enough to satisfy their picky caretaker.

"Alright," the woman announced in that loud voice of hers that Utau was strangely getting used to. "Now, I'm going to do that name intro thing you teenagers really hate doing. And I don't want no giggling crap outta of your mouths if someone has a funky name or whatever. I'm Asako or Asa for short if you don't want to bother saying my full name for some strange reason." The counselor gestured to the tall girl beside her and she immediately brightened, her soft childish features lighting up with a wide grin.

"I'm Machi!" It went on like that, around with them all just saying their first names on cue with nothing really including anything extra at the end. One had the counselor the year before and gave a humorous salute and loud exclamation of her own name. Asako gave her a 'yeah, yeah' look, not at all surprised with her behavior. The sisters turned out to be twins who were both rather shy but looked completely different in their facial features. After that, it came to the girl known as Amu who spoke her name with a shrug and indifferent attitude. It had Utau reeling with confusion and most of the others casting her wary glances.

_She's giving a completely wrong impression with that outfit and attitude. _Utau thought._ It's like her personality has totally changed. _A collective silence broke out on the clustered group and Utau didn't notice it at first because she was so immersed in her thoughts.

"Hey hon," Asako spoke up in Utau's direction. "It's your turn."

Utau jumped, suddenly conscious of all the unfamiliar eyes aimed at her. "Utau Tsukiyomi." With the response she wanted to dig a hole and die in it. Her cheeks colored over as the counselor let out a laugh at the unexpected full name.

"Finally something different! I was starting to think everyone here didn't have a last name." The female cluster gave tentative smiles at the attempt of a joke, but it was clear they were all still unsure of each other, or well, some of them. Utau didn't bother to care at this point. All she could think of was the idiotic mistake on her first day she had made. Soon enough, they were dismissed from the circle and allowed to move about freely and claim bunks with any means necessary.

"I don't really care what you pick. Fight to your deaths." Asako waved them all off and headed towards the bathroom to fix up her hair that was staining her top. That was when things started to get insanely loud again and chaotic. Utau paid it no mind, gathering her bag from the floor and placing it onto the mattress closest to the dresser. It was after a few minutes of unpacking that two girls approached her. The one she noticed first was Machi with the baby blue eyes, and a friend of hers that was standing in front of Machi like some protective shield.

Utau gave them a sidelong glace before ducking her head back out from under the bunk and standing to her full height.

They both moved back, as if threatened in some way.

"Um," the shorter one said. "We were wondering, like, if you could give up that bunk for Machi, cause we just all wanted to have ones near each other and thought maybe you wouldn't mind."

Utau did mind.

She more than minded.

The blonde tapped her nails against the siding bordering the top bunk. "This one's free."

Machi shook her head, her face speaking volumes of 'poor me' 'I'm helpless'. A fact that irked Utau on multiple levels. "I can't. I have to have a bottom bunk because I get dizzy climbing up and sometimes I sleep walk."

Her friend nodded vigorously, eyes wide, like this would convince Utau even more. "Yeah, seriously, I've seen her almost fall out before. You wouldn't want her to get hurt, right?"

_-"We're your friends."-_

_-"You can trust us, you know that. Right?" -_

_-Isn't that right Utau?-_

The words were too familiar for her comfort and the memories that came along with them hit home and dug deep. A few others were watching the scene, and Utau knew they wanted something along the lines of a fight. An event to gossip about. This situation could go two ways. She could give in and take the top or rather decline the puppy dog eyes and be victim to petty hatred. But her stubbornness she had forced down, down, and even further down back home all those years ago; was starting to rekindle and spark hot in her lungs. Evidently, she was taking too long to answer the two girls. The backup with Machi started to move Utau's bags, like it was already accepted that she had agreed.

Her reaction was immediate.

Utau slapped her hand on the bag, resulting in its fall from the edge it had been partially slid to. The sound was like a thunder clap. Totally unexpected and electrifying.

Machi stared openly in shock as her friend sputtered in disbelief.

But Utau was angry, too pissed off to worry about her reputation with the girl's now. "Don't touch my things."

She was bad at turning away from a challenge. Any confrontation for that matter.

But she knew when their shocked reactions immediately whipped around into that look of 'she's such a bitch', she shouldn't have said that. It was out in the open now and too late to trace back to and hide under somewhere. The silence was like hours, but in reality just a mere ten seconds before another voice cut it off and whisked the brewing storm away.

"Hey," It was a cool, uncaring voice that slid in like a deadlock between them all. Something completely unmovable, making their feet stuck. Utau glanced to her right to see Amu again, expression upturned into a 'this is so stupid look'.

She flipped back her pink hair, forehead beaded with sweat still from the trek here. "It's her bunk," she said so simply, as if it were that easy to state and be done with. "I'll give you mine." She pointed at the one with the pinched features who looked about ready to blow, obviously upset about Utau's clipped reply.

"The top is free, if we switch, the bottom will be for Machi." They all stood there inside a bubble of stretched tension that felt so fragile. So thin. Utau knew her face must've looked entirely unfriendly by this point, but she fretted not a bit due to their assumption she would just…move. After a few moments more of bristling silence, and a pointed glare in Utau's direction, the girl pulled her uncertain and lost looking friend away. Once out of Amu's and Utau's earshot, the heated whispering battle began. As expected. It was maybe a second, possibly two after that Amu immediately let her forehead fall onto one of the support posts attached to Utau's bunk for the top.

The rosette haired girl let out a sigh of relief, eyes closed. She winded her hands around the rectangular smoothed wood, twisting so hard her knuckles bleached to white with the quiet groan that escaped her lips. "They so hate me now…"

It was most likely spoken a loud without conscious thought, but Utau answered anyway.

"No. Just me."

Amazingly, she realized this was most likely true right off the bat. Trying to ignore smothered whispers and jabs of fingers turned her way, Utau unzipped her other bag and began sorting through her clothes. She took the sunglasses on top of her head and slid them inside on nearby dresser, noting with distaste that the surface held a scatter of glitter and sticky unrecognizable goop she supposed was solidified gum. If she bothered enough, Utau would have noticed that Amu had immediately startled at her reply earlier, eyes wide.

The younger girl stared at Utau, lips parted almost in question.

"Um…" Her face shuttered to calm, but her wringing hands stayed put in a flurry of rattled nerves. She was caught between collected and panic all in one. Utau, catching the mix out of the corner of her eye, about rolled her eyes.

"I don't care." She bit the inside of her cheek, conscious of the snappy tone. She breathed a frustrated sigh out of her nose, letting her favorite 'wrinkled' jeans fall back into the bag. "I really don't."

Amu appeared hesitant to reply to this statement, but she never got the chance to fully decide as the camp counselor appeared again with whistle around her neck and almost completely dried hair done up in a bobbing ponytail.

"C'mon girls, dinner!"

* * *

A pile of disgusting applesauce launched at Kukai's milk carton and knocked it into his peas, spraying a wave right into his lap. He groaned, but laughed along with the perpetrator with stark red hair and a flurry of freckles scattered onto his cheeks.

"Dude, do you really want me to break your nose on the first day here?" Kukai wiped the peas from his lap, letting them roll down and scatter onto the tiled floor without a stray thought to who exactly had to clean it all up at the end of the day.

The red head smirked, raising both brows as a challenge. "Hell yeah, with the new nurse here…anytime Souma."

All the young boys from Kukai's cabin laughed, piecing the air filled to the brim with voices, and began to ask questions about the unnamed woman who had been mentioned. And the short but loud mouthed sixteen year old complied, giving a very detailed description of her assets to the T. Their counselor told them to knock it off after a while, but soon let it be as he continued to chat up another counselor at a nearby table.

Kukai shook his head absently, picking up his milk and popping it open to take a much needed drink. His thoughts still consisted of that same girl who had told him to kindly 'shove off' and never approach her again. He scanned the crowd, even the line of people still filling their trays with the grotesque food, but didn't see the striking confident blonde standing anywhere.

Laughter, giggling, endless chatter ate away at his ears. But Kukai didn't focus on the conversation at hand or anything at all going on around him, he could only wonder of the girl with the steel eyes and glare that could have a grown man flinching away in a heartbeat. He'd heard plenty of things about a girl going by her description at his school, but never really bothered to care enough as girls supplied endless gossip after mindless secret. The subject was always random and faded just as quickly as another drama bombarded the conversation.

This chick fit the picture of the story he had heard countless times.

He just didn't have a clue to what was true and what was entirely fake.

"Hey," a familiar laid back voice called, snapping Kuaki out of his thoughts. Nagihiko sat down across from him, long hair pulled back and forehead beaded lightly with sweat. "You look out of it."

Kukai laughed lightly, casting the previous building questions out of his head as he noticed the exhausted state his friend was in. "Whoa…what happened to you?"

Naghiko's expression was mildly 'are you kidding me?' as he looked at the lunch and partially tired as hell. He took another huge breath, wiping at his face. "A manipulative shrimp is what _happened_." His face pulled downward even further as he picked at the stuff that was supposed to be spaghetti.

"Oh, the one who accidentally tore your forms?" Kukai ventured, wary of this aggravated Nagihiko.

The boy gave a low laugh, almost dark in some way, as if he were thinking of an inside joke that wasn't meant to be shared. "Right…it was an 'accident'…" He cleared his throat suddenly. "You going all out on training this time?"

Kukai stretched, splaying out his legs under the table lazily. "I guess. They say the scheduling is all up to you, but that's BS. They put you in one of the three schedules based on your choices of stuff you want to do, so it doesn't really matter. I'm just hoping for soccer! It beats out all the other sports in this place hands down." He threw up his arms at Nagihiko in surrender, knowing he preferred basketball. They did after all play it together in middle school. "Just saying. They don't have any courts here, which blows."

Nagihiko laughed at his word choice, knowing his mother would definitely disapprove. "You could say that."

Kukai gave him a knowing grin. "You know it's true." He looked down at the lunch, wrinkling his nose. "This food kind of sucks compared to last year."

The dancer sighed. "I wouldn't know, it's my first time here, being one of those 'special needs' kids of course."

The table seemed to go completely silent with the these words. Nagihiko and Kukai looked over to see that the entire tables attention was now on them both, all with wariness in their eyes.

"What's…up?" Kukai asked with a puzzled grin. All the other boys didn't appear too keen on reciprocating the same friendliness.

The red head from before focused his attention back on Nagihiko, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly, possibly to intimidate, maybe to just have something to do. "You're with those other screwed up kids, huh?"

Nagihiko's expression was still calm, but something indescribable flashed in his dark eyes. And Kukai knew that the outcome wouldn't be good if the conversation kept free falling down from this point on.

"Yeah," he agreed with a pleasant smile. "The unstable ones."

The kid who had addressed him seemed confused with this opposite reaction he was expecting to be more negative. The silence seemed like a steadily expanding rubber band. Stretching and stretching further still as they all sat there, on edge and rigid for reasons that were stupid in Kukai's opinion. What did it really matter that Nagihiko was here for something other than sports? As the words of defense settled on his tongue, collected to an enormous amount, he didn't receive the chance to speak up for his friend. Another boy gathered their attention with a jerk of his chin, sooty grey eyes focused on one particular tall blonde.

"Hey, isn't that the girl, the blonde Kukai was talking to before?"

And just like that, disaster was averted. All the boys' necks swiveled in said direction, some less obvious than others. Kukai glanced too, just to savor his curiosity, not to openly stare at her legs or some other place of course…

The loudest of the group, the ginger haired one again, turned back with a sly grin of his own. "You sure know how to pick em'. Figure she'll be hanging all over you by the end of the summer." He dipped some broccoli in a side of red droopy sauce, (said to be ketchup, but you can never be sure with cafeteria food.) stuffing it in his mouth as a few others made faces of disgust.

"Dude, that's gross," one said straight out.

In return, the boy made a mock gagging sound and stuck out his tongue to show the remains of his food. The guy who spoke up to him went slightly green at the sight.

Kukai only laughed, answering the previous statement of his. "Doubt it, Rio."

Rio waved him off, rolling his eyes. It was a joke most times that Kukai never had any trouble with girls, they always found him, eager to be with the soccer captain of Seiyo. But he said the same each time, saying he had to focus on practice and school. Nothing else. Oh so typical of him, and a wonder to his friends, not to mention an envy.

"She's pretty hot though, gotta admit," another spoke suddenly.

Kukai looked over at the other side to settle his gaze on Hideo. A cocky first string player at a neighboring high school, one who didn't know the meaning of 'lost' or 'tie'. Kukai didn't much like playing against the guy for those reasons alone, and he wasn't really a pleasant person to talk to either. Hideo leaned back precariously in his chair, staying upright only on two legs, a cocky smirk resting easily onto his lips. "Maybe I'll take a shot at the ice cold bitch this year."

The comment had Kukai's insides hot in a second. In that single instant, he had become pissed off, recalling now the scene Hideo had caused an hour earlier. He didn't know why it aggravated him, but he couldn't help but feel intensely annoyed with Hideo now. Nagihiko noted the curling of Kukai's hands straight away, slightly curious of the reaction. Sure, Hideo's statement hadn't been tactful, but he rarely ever was when speaking of the opposite sex. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see Kukai visibly wanting to leap to her defense. Or maybe it was because Hideo wasn't the likable kind of guy. Who knows?

Kukai cleared his throat and let the pressure leave his clenched hands. "So, what'd you do to her?" he questioned calmly, not wanting some kind of fight with Hideo. The guy was known for that kind of thing whenever he took things the wrong way or felt spited.

Hideo stopped rocking on the back legs of his chair, unaware, being turned away from the lunch line and people exiting from it, that the person they were discussing was in earshot.

Utau perked immediately, tray in hand as she was in the process of getting a salad. Her eyes narrowed and she let the tongs in her hand fall back into the less than appetizing looking tomatoes slices.

Hideo's expression was blank for a second or two before it scrunched up. "Huh?"

Kukai forced himself to appear neutral and didn't give way to his aggravation. "What'd you do to that girl in the lodge?"

Girl in the lodge? Utau thought briefly, gaze distant as she racked her memory. She glanced back over her shoulder to see a tense Kukai and a familiar raven head of hair she wanted to nail with a nearby apple. The words steadily began to click as she remembered the distasteful incident that involved the pig known as Hideo. Her mouth went into a deep frown as her eyes ignited with rage. Amu flinched back, afraid she was the object of Utau's anger as she quickly scurried away, not long ago being reunited with Rima, back to their cabin's table. The angered girl's fingers twitched sharply on her tray as she heard a sudden scoff.

"Nothing," Hideo replied as she began to pick up her tray and turn to strut her way past all the boy's 'conversing'about her. She delivered an icy glare to Kukai who had instantly noticed her coming their way. Instead of retreating his eyes from her glower, he grinned, amused about what…she had no clue. Hideo's repulsive voice assaulted her ears as he continued from his previous spoken word. "…nothing she didn't _like_ -" Her foot gave solid kick to his unsteady chair legs as she passed by.

"Shit!" Hideo yelled out, flailing his arms before crashing to the floor, face completely overcome with surprise. Kukai laughed right out and loud, knowing full well who the perpetrator was when everyone else didn't. Utau had effortlessly melded in the crowd, a devious little smirk plastered on her face.

Hideo scrambled to sit up. "Who the hell -" He didn't finish. He only looked around widely, face crimson with indignation. The thunderous fall had gathered a lot of the room's unnecessary attention, and most had openly laughed at the flustered Hideo. It wasn't often he was caught off guard like that.

Amu appeared to be the lone person who was somewhat concerned for the boy from his heavy drop to the floor. Utau was vaguely aggravated, seeing this as she approached the table, but decided to forgive the naïve girl for not being able to decipher between assholes who should die or assholes who were tolerable.

As Utau took her seat, the ever stoic Rima let her own comment slip about Hideo, who was currently throwing a loud fit and asking who the BLEEP knocked over his chair.

"Idiot."

Oh, Utau couldn't have agreed more.

* * *

By the time it was well past seven o'clock and they had to head back to the cabin, Utau's mood was as low as the sun dipping right into the hillside. Their bus had gotten there at four and a late lunch/supper combination had set back the scheduling so far, counselors had decided to let them all wander around in one of the smaller newly mowed fields near the lodge. A kickball game was started, but due to the boys being complete senseless morons they had started a 'how hard can you kick?' match and caused the ball to pop. So, Utau had nothing to really stare at and be distracted by for another good hour. Amu and Rima clustered together, away from the other girls of their cabin who were actually mingling with the other campers, staying nearer to Utau than she preferred.

The blonde sat in damp grass with a scowl the entire hour and a half. Amu kept throwing her glances every now and then out of the corner of her eye, possibly trying to muster up the courage to speak to her again. A fact that annoyed Utau unbelievably so. She prayed that the grinning maniac known as Kukai wouldn't come and have a chat with her also, and…strangely got her wish. This, she told herself, was the highlight of her entire evening. But even that didn't sound quite right. Eventually everyone was called back to head towards their cabins early for the night. Which was what was happening at the moment. There was no camp fire gathering due to a thunderstorm brewing and coming right in their direction. The trek into the woods would take awhile and they didn't have the time to do the normal, stupid sounding to her, camp singing nightime thing. It was a rule to be in the cabins by eight and to stay there until six thirty the next morning. Unless deemed otherwise by the camp director.

The rough rocky road they traveled by constantly led to dust being thrown up into the air by swift steps, and irritated throats beyond Utau's patience. Some hacked, other lightly coughed into their sleeves, but it was still irritating. Amu continually kept by Utau's side closely, not too close, but near enough to be detectable and obviously on purpose. As if she needed to be comforted and be kept in company so as not to fall to sniveling pathetic pieces. Her mother had urged her to write or call every few days or so. Something she didn't want to do at all, maybe out of spite, but she mostly saw no need to call home and babble on about how crappy it was here. As they were in sight of the large cabin that was theirs, with the old rickety deck that already had beach towels spread out on the railing, girl's broke into a run. Some screamed and giggled with their shrieks that were mostly incoherent. Utau wanted to hit some of them. Others lagged behind with the counselor, Amu, Rima and Utau included.

Asako let a sigh fly into the chilly night air. "Girls, quieter please! And don't run!" It always knocked Utau off guard when the woman opened her mouth. Her voice had no difficulty in being heard, it had a catch to it that was very clear and hard to miss. Asako stopped suddenly, as if she just remembered something. She looked back at the stragglers of her group that were all part of the SOS program.

"During free run tomorrow, you guys will be briefed about that...thing. Sometimes they'll call you there over the course of the summer, sometimes they won't." She put her hands on her hips, waiting for any questions.

Rima looked at their counselor without a trace of her thoughts being revealed. "Do we have to run?"

Asako gave a jerk of her chin, ponytail bouncing with the action. "Yeah, but it's free run. You're only required to run one lap. The rest is up to you whether or not you want to stay in shape for sports next school year. It's just a warm up for all us athletic junkies." She held a fist in their direction, making a thumb's up. "We all good here?" She searched their faces for any hesitation. "Did I give you guys enough of a fair warning?"

Amu jumped, immediately giving her own agreement with a thumb's up. Thinking it was expected. With Rima and Utau only nodding in silence, Amu quickly brought her arm back down and pretended to be interested in the dirt beneath her leather boots, cheeks staining red. Amu was instantly grateful for the shroud of dark that covered them all.

The woman smiled wide. "Good." She flung her hands up, throwing them all an incredulous look. "No slacking off, those hyper active maniacs up there are making you guys look bad. Time for bed!"

The process of going to sleep wasn't all that easy. Girls fought over the two mirrors that didn't reflect all the well anyway, and argued who got morning and nighttime showers. A few even played rock paper scissors to decide, suggested by a very frustrated Asako. Utau decided to avoid the chaos by waiting her turn for the sink to brush her teeth and taking one of the morning spots to wake herself up. It was almost ten by the time everyone was settled into their bunks and the lights were forcefully shut off, startling Machi who was going to the bathroom at the time. She let out a scream that had everyone laughing except Utau and Rima, who were both rubbing at their ears and left irritated. But Utau was murderous by this point, wanting nothing more than to pack up her stuff and take her leave right then. She was tempted to sneak out possibly and hitchhike her way back home.

But as snickers and excited whispering ebbed away with the minutes that soon turned into an hour, Utau was alone in the blackness with nothing but her insane plans of escape. She snuggled under her covers, probably the only one still awake considering there were snores coming from all directions. A million tiny thoughts zipped around in her head like a tub filled with water that had the plug pulled. They winded around and around in a slowly unfurling circle, endless it seemed. When Utau believed she'd never rid of them, her eyes slowly began to droop on their own. And just as sudden as her thoughts came, they disappeared along with her conscious state and into the land of illogical fantasy.

* * *

Utau was drifting, coasting with the sky up in the clouds. The city was a bustling speck below her dangling feet, sounds like a dulled stereo in the background. Her fingers dropped to feather the white vapor she was sitting on. It didn't make realistic sense, but she didn't give it a stray thought. Her hair was free from any ties and she didn't feel sad, angry, or regretful as she always seemed to be stuck in a never ending loop doing. Her dress was simple, white as the pure fluffy shape she was resting upon. She let her legs hang off the side, unafraid of slipping and freefalling to her death at the ground. Here she felt content and surrounded in bliss. Her heart was light, her head utterly clear of spiny misfortunes or memories. Utau felt an abrupt shift of her lazy rest, some kind of tiny bump or lurch of some kind. Her eyes closed for a second and she caught sight of a blurry image and frazzled collection of noises that didn't make sense.

"- don't drop her -"

"Shit, I stepped on -"

"This is so -"

And birds, she heard an assortment of high pitched tweets and songs that always came with the rise of the sun over the horizon. But soon enough, her eyes slid back open to reveal the expanse of blue and her peaceful drifting ride in the sky. She could almost imagine gentle fingers on her arms and feel warmth pressing at her neck. Almost as if someone were carrying her - this thought was cut short as the cloud disappeared and she was dropping like a rock, a very heavy piece of human stone. She opened her mouth in a soundless scream, unaware that the outside world didn't consist of a city beneath her and the ground wasn't going to meet with her face soon.

Instead, Utau awoke to the feeling of freezing water stabbing her every nerve like knives.

* * *

**I have no good excuse for my absence. Lots of things came up. Writers block, school, life, etc. I was afraid to write this because I read over all the past chapters and saw utter…crap. Someone said they were confused, so I tried to put more explanation here and there. I'll probably go back and edit some previous chapters to make them more clear. But this story really isn't something I'm proud of at the moment, and like I said in the last AN to this story, I don't want to let anyone down. I wish this to be enjoyable to readers, but everyone has different tastes and expectations so I've begun to realize I can't meet everyone's criteria. **

**Annnyyywaayyy, my friend convinced me to update all this stuff. When someone makes a deal with me, I stick to it. So, yeah, here it is. I believe it sucks, cuz I pulled it out of thin air and all that…but I hope it's fun and not boring. I really hate to hear if something's boring…Ikuto will be in the next chapter, I'm surprised no one's guessed what he's supposed to be. I think someone was close, it's been so long I can't remember who though! There's quite a few oc's now, that will probably get one a few people's nerves ^^**

**I changed my mind about Rima and Amu being the only ones who know each other by the way. Nagi and Kukai do too. Sorry about that. **

**Reply's that I definitely owe: (I think I'm going to reply to just questions in my author's notes from now on…) **

_Ponyopwnsyou143_ - I'm so happy to see you think so! Well, here's the update. I'm sorry I didn't update all that soon ):

_AnimandMangaLover16_ - Glad you do, I apologize for the late update!

_ColaInABottle_ - I'm pretty sure I replied to yours because I felt awful with how long I was taking to update, and your review made me unbelievably happy. I was touched, really!

_Silent Bird Song _- Alrighty…I'm sorry it was puzzling to you. Rima's not a nice girl to begin with you know, and Nagihiko's polite. I made him a bit tougher because of what you said in your review, but I'm not sure if that makes him ooc or not.

_Musiclover759_ - You do too? They're so much fun to write! Thank you, and I've continued just as you asked :D

_LAVEN-YULLEN _- lol! Thank you!

_RimaNagi4Ever_ - You left me two very nice reviews most recently if I recall correctly, thanks very much. Well one was more of just a smile face thing, but I appreciate it all the same. I'm relieved to hear that you understand it, and if there's anything at all that's confusing let me know!

_Lillith-himi's Immortal Realm _- Your reviews leave me smiling. I'm really hoping that you're still watching for this story, and here's that long awaited update you asked for.

_Dowwin _- Wow, you wouldn't believe how much of a load that took off my shoulders! That means a lot to me, seriously. Thank you! I am trying very hard to not rush right on through with the romance. That wouldn't be a story at all, now would it? XD

_The Sky's Bouquet _- haha, yeah, I know. When I read your review it immediately made me laugh at the first line all those months ago. Aw, thanks!

_Snow-Aquamarine _- I'm not sure if I replied to yours or not, just ignore this if I have…That's so sweet, thank you. You like the combination of all that? I thought the mystery was too indirect, that I needed to explain a bit more. Whelp, here's the update!

_ChocolateAnimeObsessed _- Your name reminds me of when I used to spell obsessed, upsest. My god, my spelling sucked back then! Ohhhh, that makes me really happy, thanks! :D Here it is!

_DemonWitchCat_ - I…don't think I replied to yours…ermmm. WOW. You think so? Man, I don't deserve that! Thank you.

**I only replied to reviews for chapter six, because I just couldn't remember if I replied to the others ones on older chapters. And the ones that did review chapter six that aren't listed here, I'm almost entirely sure I replied already and I didn't want to answer you the same way I already did here. Thank you to those unlisted too! And if I missed you, you can hate me. **

**You guys are so AWESOME. You know that right? The majority of people I know are jerks, really, and many here are just too nice. I can't believe some of the stuff you guys tell me in reviews sometimes, it motivates me. I started this chapter because of reviews begging me to update, I just fell short for a large amount of time and felt terrible for not updating for so long. Thank you. I don't know if I can ever say it enough, but I really just want everyone here to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to review, alert and favorite. Thank you so much! **


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